


Mind and Metal

by cathinda1



Series: Always at Your Side [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Amputee OFC, Arc Reactor, Deaf Clint Barton, Disabled Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Geniuses, Idiots in Love, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Light Angst, Major Original Character(s), Medical Trauma, Might not happen in this story, Multi, Mutual Pining, Nicknames, Obadiah Stane is a Dick, Original Character friendship - Freeform, Pain, Physical Disability, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Rhodey's tired of this shit, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Trust Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trust, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, eventual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23788843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathinda1/pseuds/cathinda1
Summary: People always assumed that Rhodey was the idiot. To be fair, when it came to him, Tony, and Erin, they were correct. But Rhodey was able to keep up with two geniuses who spoke fluent technobabble, so he had to have some intelligence.He also sometimes had to rely on blind faith. That was especially true when his two best friends wind up in an explosion in Afghanistan and one of them being kidnapped and the other needing an amputation.Erin Walker, Tony Stark, and James Rhodes had met at MIT when an unending friendship formed, a friendship that strengthened as Erin created a business and Tony took one over. However, that friendship is put to the test beyond anything else when Tony is kidnapped and Erin is wounded. It didn't get any easier when two of the three friends began building suits of armor to take on the world's bad guys and create world peace.But people always say, you have to fight for what you want. nothing is more true than when Tony decides to become a superhero and Erin decided to join him as a super doctor, leaving Rhodey to help clear up the conspiracy theory that is Stark Industries while Tony and Erin try to stop the flow of weapons. How far can you stretch a friendship before it breaks?
Relationships: Clint Barton & Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark & Original Female Character, Pepper Potts & James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Original Female Character(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Always at Your Side [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721323
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People always assume that Rhodey's the idiot of the group, though he would argue that all the schooling and genius in the world can't help the dumbasses that he calls his best friends.

To say Rhodey knew that pair of idiots was an understatement. He remembered the first day he met 14-year-old Tony Stark when they started MIT, an odd friendship blossomed easily as the two spent more and more time together. Their odd friendship extended to include a peculiar biomedical-engineering student by the name of Erin Walker, the 13-year-old already had three PhD’s from Harvard Medical (one in biochemistry, one in medicinal application, one in neuroscience), but that hadn’t stopped her wanting to keep going. Rhodey could say with confidence that he was the most responsible person in their small friendship circle, especially when he remembered the days that he would wake up to two caffeine-fueled teenagers claiming to have had a brilliant idea. Though he was often roped into their stupid plans around campus, there were countless times that he’d been the one to help them hop fences after vandalizing houses around campus, so it wasn’t fair to say the ideas were all on Erin and Tony.

Most people assumed that Rhodey wasn’t that intelligent, but considering he was able to keep up with two geniuses who had a habit of rambling, he had to have an above average IQ. Most people tended to forget that there were three people who helped build Dum-E, the first robot to grace the apartment shared by the trio, and that while Tony was the main name, it was Erin that had given the little bot his personality, and it was Rhodey who noticed the counterweight flaw in the planning. The little bot still had his original coding, flaws and all, and he always chirped happily when he saw either of his three creators.

The assumptions didn’t end when the trio left MIT with Tony and Erin both achieving doctorates. They didn’t change when Erin went back and got a further two doctorates (one in biological engineering, one in mechanics). They didn’t change when Rhodey went into the Air Force while Tony took over Stark Industries and Erin founded Walker Enterprises.

Erin was in her lab, Bon Jovi blaring at full volume while she worked on the latest field-medical tech that was currently her key focus, the sound of her phone ringing came over IRIS’s system,  
“What’d you want, Rodeo, I’m busy.” She could practically hear Rhodey roll his eyes at the nickname,  
“Bagram Air Base have requested you and Tones for the same weekend, care to do presentations one after each other so I can be the guard at both?” Erin couldn’t stop herself laughing,  
“You still not tired of babysitting us?”   
“I’ve not been babysitting you two since we graffitied that guy’s house like a month after we met!” Rhodey and Erin both laughed at the memory,  
“I can arrange everything, Rodeo, it’ll be sorted. One weekend in Afghanistan and then home. I’ll get Pete over to May.” Erin turned her focus back to the prosthetic on her desk that she was currently rewiring after a snag had caused a short circuit.  
“I’ll let Tones know.” Rhodey said before ending the call. Erin hummed her acknowledgement,  
“See you on Thursday Koala.”   
“Catch you Thursday Cowboy.” The click signaled the end of the call and the music turned itself up again to full volume leaving Erin humming along as she worked.

Not even 20 minutes passed before her phone rang again,  
“What’s up Frankenstein?”  
“I hear you’re joining me and Honeybear on our trip to Afghanistan.” There was a hint of amusement in Tony’s voice,  
“Yeah, my team should be sorted by then. I hear you have an awards ceremony on Wednesday night.” She only heard Tony hum in response.   
“Want to join me?”  
“No.” Tony made an offended noise at the bluntness, but Erin took no note, “We both know you won’t be going, and I’ll be prepping everything to fly to Afghan on Thursday. I’ll have to get Pete over to May and Ben, sort the project with Jess… can’t ditch now.”  
“Fair point. You coming over on Wednesday to see me?”  
“Nah, I’ll let you wait until Thursday.” Erin laughed as Tony complained,  
“Look, I’ve gotta go, the wiring’s pissing me off and I’ve got work to do.”  
“Ok, see you soon Doc.”  
“Bye Boss.” Erin knew that Tony was also grinning like an idiot when the call ended, they both loved the stupid nicknames they used on each other.

Erin contacted her team heads, summoning them for an emergency briefing. The heads had all gathered in the main conference room, all looked slightly panicked about being called to an emergency briefing.  
“Deadline for the Afghan presentation has been brought forward. I head out at 17:30 on Thursday morning this week. I need everything packed and ready to depart for the field equipment.” The team leaders nodded, already setting about planning to get everything done in time. Erin smiled as she watched them, the group were the best of the best when it came to the medical business and bioengineering, she couldn’t deny that she was proud of them all, they’d made more medical leaps in their decade of being open than most other medical research facilities had ever made.

Erin headed to the airport to meet up with Rhodey and Tony, she knew that Tony would undoubtably be a couple of hours late, he always was, but Rhodey would be there from 5:00. When the car clock reached 5:15, Erin’s driver pulled the car to a stop by Tony’s plane, as predicted, Rhodey was stood waiting for them on the steps outside the plane.  
“I should’ve known you’d be early.” He called as he headed towards her while Erin and her bodyguard, Richie, moved several cases onto the plane,  
“How was the awards ceremony?” She asked with a knowing grin, Rhodey shot her a playful glare which just caused Erin’s grin to widen.  
“I knew he wouldn’t show. You knew it too, don’t look so smug.”   
“He hasn’t gone to an awards ceremony since we all won a robotics award for creating Dum-E!” Erin exclaimed as she headed onto the plane.  
“Am I alright to get some work done?” She asked as she pulled out her state-of-the-art laptop (designed for her by Tony),  
“What time do we reckon Tony’ll show?” Erin added with a grin once Rhodey nodded to let her get some work done,  
“$20 says he’ll be here by 7:30.”  
“I’ll raise you to $40 at 8:00.”   
“You’re on!” Rhodey laughed as he headed back outside.

Erin’s grin faded as she opened her files, opening into Project Regrowth. The files had all been altered to be labelled as ‘SCRAPPED’, Erin raised an eyebrow before calling the project leader, Jessica,  
“Care to explain Regrowth?” Erin demanded as soon as Jessica answered,  
“There’s no way it can be done without catastrophic side effects to a person, most simulations result in death, the rest result in rotting of the regrown limb.”  
“So no chance at all?” Erin asked, closing her eyes, she and Jessica had been friends since Erin did her second PhD at Harvard. Jessica and Rhodey always joked with each other that their two favorite geniuses would see them to early graves with their crazy plans.  
“None, I’m creating a report for you now.” Jessica paused for a moment, “Erin, I’m sorry, I know you wanted this to work.”  
“It would’ve let so many people have their lives…” Erin’s voice faded off,  
“What?” Jessica demanded, her tone so much like the one Rhodey used when Erin and Tony had an idea, those early graves seemed ever closer with every sentence.  
“What about advanced prosthetics, ones that merge with the nerves to allow direct motor control over the prosthetic limb.”  
“I’ll look into it.” Jessica stated,  
“Thanks Sugarplum.” Erin said with a sweet smile before hanging up.

Opening a new spreadsheet, Erin instantly set about creating the basic outline of a prosthetic forearm and hand, trying to synthesize a cabling system that would act as nerves and allow motor control over the limb.  
“The hell is wrong with you?!” She heard Rhodey yell,  
“Rodeo, you owe me forty bucks!” Erin yelled, Rhodey didn’t make any attempt to say that he heard her,  
“Three hours. For three hours you got me standing here. Even Erin made it here on time and she was in New York!”  
“I resent that! I actually have time keeping skills.” Erin exclaimed,  
“She keeps time.” Tony said at the same time as he stepped into the plane.

Tony hugged Erin briefly before sitting down across from her, Rhodey sliding in next to Erin. The trio were silent for several minutes as the plane took off, Rhodey reading a file, Erin still designing the prosthetic, Tony watching them both silently.   
“What’re you working on?” Tony asked after ten minutes, both he and Rhodey were looking at Erin who didn’t even acknowledge Tony’s voice,  
“C’mon Doc, what’s going down?” Erin shot her attention to Tony when Rhodey tapped her arm.  
“Well, Project Regrowth fell through, too dangerous, the aftereffects are detrimental, so we’ve scrapped it.”  
“Project Regrowth?” Tony asked, he hadn’t seen Erin in a month but they called every day, in truth it was the longest they had gone without seeing each other since they met.  
“Yeah, y’know how I told you about the concept of creating an organic limb that is connected to a wounded joint which is then coded to the DNA of the patient, becoming their limb?”  
“Yes”  
“No” Erin raised her eyebrow to Rhodey,  
“You saw one of the simulations. Last week, George showed it you.” Rhodey nodded as he remembered it,  
“Well it doesn’t work, causes the limb to rot or for rejection to kill the patient. We’ve scrapped it and are looking into prosthetics with nerve acceptance tech that we use in the eye treatment.”

The trio quickly turned to messing around and drinking, a couple of the stewardesses were dancing at the other end of the plane, but Rhodey, Tony, and Erin were mostly ignoring them in favor of catching up. The stewardesses didn’t seem to care that their pole dancing was being ignored while the three friends drank and caught up.   
“God you need to move back down our way.” Tony muttered once they were almost four hours into the 12-hour flight.  
“Well, we’re actually moving our HQ to Philadelphia in February. Not closing down the current one but turning that into our design center. I’m looking at moving to Malibu or Philadelphia.” Tony wrapped Erin in a side hug with a grin,  
“Choose Malibu!” Rhodey exclaimed, “it’s been too quiet without you around.”   
“It’s not just that, but for Peter.” The two men raised their eyebrows,  
“Being closer to New York means that he can stay with May and Ben without much interruption to his schooling now that he’s getting older. But moving to Malibu means we’re all together and that way he’s got the rest of his family.” Tony smiled fondly as Erin spoke about her cousin’s son, she’d always adored the intelligent little boy that she’d adopted, always encouraging him and telling him stories that Erin’s dad had told her as a child.  
“What about moving out Malibu way?” Tony suggested with a grin,  
“Look, I know that the Hub is in Malibu, but Jessie’s assigned Dominic to run the Hub. Means I don’t need to be nearby.” Erin responded with an equally amused grin as Tony’s face dropped as he held a hand over his heart dramatically causing his two best friends to laugh.

The plane landed in Kabul and the trio were escorted to the military aircraft that was taking them the rest of the way to Bagram air base despite the fact that it would have been just as easy to drive the rest of the way.  
“What’s with the second plane?” Erin asked Rhodey, scooting ever so slightly closer to him, despite having spent the past year mainly focusing on improving medical treatment for war zones, Erin had never been to one herself before.  
“Less likely to run over a land mine.” Rhodey muttered back earning a glare from Erin, Rhodey squeezed her hand when he noticed Erin’s unease. As soon as the plane landed, Erin and Tony were escorted to the base commander,  
“Mr. Stark, I look forward to your weapons presentation this afternoon. Doctor Walker, I know many people who will be thrilled to see you here in person, myself among them.”   
“I am thrilled to finally be able to see what the technology my company creates is doing to improve the lives of the men and women saving our lives.” Tony sent a smirk to Erin as they were led towards the main infirmary.

All medical personnel had been gathered to see the presentation,  
“For too long, medical treatment in the field of a war zone has meant the simplest of treatment with splints, tourniquets, and basic bandaging remaining the height of field treatment. However, the development of the Field Line of Walker Industries medical development has meant that field medical treatment is now much safe, much easier, and much quicker. With safer treatments meaning that infections are almost entirely prevented, not only is the patient safer, but in situations like field medics, all people involved are safer due to the patient being able to move on their own, even with a broken limb…” Erin carried on, showing several products involved, there was also a more advanced treatment for the base’s medical team, allowing much more in depth and better medical care that they had ever experienced before.

After 30 minutes, Erin, Tony, and Rhodey headed back to meet with the base commander, the man led them to a canteen where they were given a small lunch before being driven to where Tony would be presenting the Jericho missile. Rhodey and Erin stood at the back as Tony gave his presentation,  
“You’re getting good at this.” Rhodey whispered to Erin, she glanced up to him, confusion clear on his face,  
“Presenting.”  
“Well I’ve had to. The company needs me to be good at it.” The pair fell silent as the missile was launched; Erin watched it with barely contained horror as the explosion covered more ground than any other missile in existence. She let out a breath as Tony went to get a drink and made a comment about peace that didn’t really register in Erin’s mind. Rhodey looked at her in concern,  
“We’re actually rival companies. He’s killing the people that I’m trying to heal.” Rhodey hugged her briefly before they were led over to the Humvees.

Erin and Tony slid into the back seat of one, Rhodey ran over to them,  
“This is the Fun-vee.” Tony stated,  
“The hum-drum-vee’s back there.” Erin added, pointing to the second Humvee, Rhodey couldn’t help himself from rolling his eyes, even when they were upset with each other, they would still tag team him.  
“Nice job. Both of you.”  
“See you back at base.” Tony said with a small smile,  
“See ya in a few Rodeo!” Erin called as Rhodey retreated to the other Humvee.

The ride was silent for a few minutes as the three soldiers in the vehicle with Erin and Tony cautiously eyed the pair while a CD player played Back in Black.  
“I feel like you’re taking us to a court-martial, this is crazy. What did we do?” Tony exclaimed,  
“Feels like you’re gonna pull over and snuff us. What, are you not allowed to talk?” Erin added with a grin.  
“We can talk Ma’am.” The soldier in the front, Forrest, stated, not looking over. Erin caught sight of Tony grinning and mouthing “ma’am”, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Erin. The soldier sat next to her tried to contain his laughter when he saw them.  
“Oh I see, so it’s personal?” Tony asked jokingly when he’d recovered from messing with Erin.  
“You intimidate them.” The soldier driving stated nonchalantly causing Erin to laugh.  
“Good god, you’re a woman!” Tony exclaimed, “I honestly couldn’t have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.”  
“I'm an airman.” Erin laughed at that,  
“You have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?” The soldiers in the vehicle joined Erin in her laughter,  
“Come on, it's okay, laugh.” Tony exclaimed, using the voice he used when interacting with his workers.  
“Sir, I have a question to ask.”  
“Yes, please.”  
“Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?” Erin scoffed, causing them all to look over to her,  
“He wishes.” Tony elbowed her in the ribs this time causing Erin and the soldier next to them to laugh, Erin laughed harder when she realized that he had seen her elbow Tony.  
“That is an excellent question.” Tony started, ignoring Erin, “yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?” The soldier next to them, Jimmy, raised his hand, **  
**“You're kidding me with the hand up, right?”  
“Is it cool if I take a picture with you both?” Erin nodded with a smile, finally having stopped laughing.  
“Yes. It's very cool.” Jimmy pulled out a camera and handed it to Forrest in the front,  
“I don't want to see this on your My Space page.” Tony muttered as Jimmy raised a peace sign.  
“Please, no gang signs.” Erin rolled her eyes as Jimmy lowered it,   
“No, throw it up. I'm kidding.” Tony stated, “yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace.” Jimmy began telling Forrest to take the picture.

Just as Forrest pressed down the button, the Humvee in front exploded as it hit a landmine. Chaos ensued with the three soldiers moving to attack, leaving Tony and Erin in the vehicle. Erin’s eyes landed on the camera which she grabbed and stuffed in her pocket just as Tony pulled her from the vehicle. The pair ran for shelter behind a nearby boulder only for a bomb to land next to them. The pair looked at it with wide eyes when they read Stark Industries plastered on the side of it.

The pair were running, Erin was barely three steps ahead of Tony when the bomb went off, throwing them both to the ground. Tony ripped open his shirt while Erin felt a white-hot agony spreading through her left arm.

After only a moment, Erin’s eyes closed as she succumbed to unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in a hospital is bad enough. Waking up alone and scared is about 1000 times worse, but that doesn't matter when your best friend is missing and there's a pain that you can't place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does go into mild detail about amputation and there is some torture.

A constant beeping was what pulled Erin from her sleep, she went to reach out to shut off her alarm when memories of the bomb came back to her. Instantly her eyes shot open, searching desperately for any sign of Tony.   
“Easy, easy Koala.” Came Rhodey’s soothing voice,  
“Rodeo?” Erin asked weakly as Rhodey gripped her hand, trying to curl as close to the man as she could.  
“It’s gonna be ok. Jessica’s on her way, you’re gonna be fine. May’s bringing Peter out here before going to pick up your cat.” Erin glanced down, instantly regretting doing so when she saw that her left arm was completely gone.

She couldn’t breathe, panic filled her as she tried to breathe but the air wasn’t making it into her lungs. Panic attack, her brain supplied as she continued to spiral further into the panic.  
“Hey! Breathe with me, it’s ok, we’ll help you. It’ll be ok.” Rhodey moved onto the bed, pulling Erin against him like he’d done many times at MIT. Instantly, Erin was curling into his hold, burying her face in his shoulder as panicked sobs wracked her body while Rhodey rubbed circles into her back.  
“Tony? Where’s Tones?” Rhodey hesitated, in that moment, Erin found herself assuming the worst,  
“We didn’t find him.” Erin closed her eyes as a sob escaped her throat,  
“Doesn’t mean we’ve stopped looking.” Rhodey assured her, squeezing her remaining hand.

After several minutes, Rhodey leant back against the headboard and Erin settled next to him.  
“How long’s it been?”  
“A week. Your arm was shredded, so was a lot of your back. You’d also gotten an infection; meant you were laid up for a week. They’re gonna be asking questions to you soon.” Rhodey’s voice faded off as he lifted something off the bedside. Erin’s eyes widened at the sight of the camera; she took it from Rhodey in gentle fingers. Her eyes scanned it over briefly before she switched it on and loaded it to the photo album. Tears sprung to her eyes at the picture; Jimmy, her mind provided, had been so happy at getting a picture that he would never get to see.

Erin sat looking at the picture for several minutes, not too sure what to say, choosing instead to just focus on the picture.  
“Did he have a family?”   
“I’ll find out. I’ll also get IRIS and JARVIS to save both you and Tony a copy of that picture.” Erin nodded before handing the camera to Rhodey and letting him leave the room, leaving Erin to her thoughts. Her mind began telling her that she was the only one left from the Humvee.

Erin didn’t get to think long when there was a gentle knocking at the door. Glancing over, Erin saw a blond-haired man stood in the doorway, dressed head to toe in dark colors,  
“Doctor Erin Walker?”  
“You a doctor?”  
“No. I’ve been sent by a man named Nick Fury.” Erin smiled at the familiar name.  
“How do I know you’re not lying?”  
“He told me to mention the firefly. Said you’d understand.” Erin nodded before motioning for the man to come over.  
“He tell you anything else?”   
“Yeah, that I’m to tell you my name or you’ll never trust me.” The pair both smirked at that, the man sat down before speaking again.  
“I’m Clint. Agent Clint Barton.”  
“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.” The name caused the pair to laugh, settling into a comfortable silence.

Pain, that was all Tony felt when he woke up, pain encompassing his entire body but originating in his chest. It took him a moment to register the small pipe in his nose, he pulled it out despite the added pain it caused. As soon as it was out, he reached for the cup next to him, knocking it, Tony closed his eyes at it clattered to the ground. He took a moment to ground himself before reaching for the jug that had been behind the cup. He was quickly stopped when the pain his chest grew, and resistance stopped him moving any further.  
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Came the voice of the man stood nearby who was shaving. Tony glanced over to his side; his eyes widened when they landed on a car battery with wires connected to it. He grabbed at the wires before following them back and under the bandages. Yanking the bandages away from his chest, Tony felt like he couldn’t breathe when he saw a metal cylinder in his chest.

It took Tony several minutes to catch his breath, much longer than usual, the man helped Tony sit up before handing him a mirror. Tony was only just beginning to register the constant discomfort that encompassed his entire chest.  
“What the Hell did you do to me?” Tony asked breathlessly, barely glancing at the man, choosing to focus on the piece of metal embedded in his chest, his skin already scarring around the edges and red with irritation.  
“What I did? What I did is to save your life.” The man said, “I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there is a lot left and its headed into your atrial septum.” He lifted a small jar, “here, want a look, I kept a souvenir.”

Tony felt sick as the man handed him the jar,  
“I’ve seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs.” A week? Tony thought, his mind spinning as he tried to comprehend what this man was telling him.  
“What is this?” He asked, focusing on the device in his chest,  
“That is an electromagnet,” the man explained, “hooked up to a car battery, it’s keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart.” Tony shuddered as he zipped up the hoodie he was wearing while his eyes turned to a small camera in the corner of the room.  
“My friend, what happened to her?”  
“They only brough you to me. I don’t know if she was found by others, or if she didn’t make it. I’m sorry.” Tony nodded, but he couldn’t answer, his words caught in his throat as he though about the fact that Erin might be dead.

The man continued to talk to Tony for several minutes as he made up some food, though Tony couldn’t really concentrate on what the man was saying.  
“Where are we?” Tony asked suddenly, though the man never got a chance to answer because the sound of people on the other side of the door echoed around the cave.   
“Stand up,” the man pulled Tony to his feet, “do as I do. Put your hands up.” Tony copied the movement just as men entered the room,  
“Those are my guns, how do they have my guns?” Tony exclaimed quietly,  
“Do you understand me, just do as I do!” Panic was evident in the other man’s voice, one of their captors began speaking in a language Tony didn’t understand,  
“He says ‘welcome Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.’ He wants you to build a missile, the Jericho missile.” The man showed Tony a picture as if he needed reminding of the weapon.  
“I refuse.” Tony stated.

When Erin next awoke, she hadn’t expected to see Jessica arguing with the doctors, she also didn’t expect to see Agent Barton still stood in the hallway.  
“Jessie, they’re just doing their jobs.” Erin scolded groggily; Jessica instantly ran over to her boss’ side.  
“Good to see you awake. I was beginning to worry.”   
“No, you weren’t.” Erin scoffed good-naturedly; Jessica just grinned for a moment before her expression turned serious.  
“I’ve been working on Project Nerve since you spoke to me about it the other week.”  
“Project Nerve?”  
“The prosthetics plan.” Erin nodded in understanding, signaling for Jessica to continue.  
“Well, it’s going… I’ve got a team on it… but they aren’t as good as us two with hangovers and on caffeine highs.” Erin couldn’t stop herself chuckling at that. Jessica was brilliant with the biomedical-engineering, leading to her working her way to the Head of Biomedical Development, Erin couldn’t be prouder of her friend.  
“Look, the docs reckon you need another week to get over the shock, I reckon you’ll be good in a couple of days.”  
“Gimme until tomorrow, I’ll be fine to work then.”  
“You got it. I’ll commandeer us a lab.” Rhodey entered the room, a picture held gently in his hand, just as Jessica finished speaking,  
“I don’t wanna know.” He stated bluntly as he sat down next to Erin who gripped his hand instantly, he passed her the photo, giving her a minute to take in the appearance of the soldier Jimmy, and Tony. Rhodey let out a breath before speaking,   
“First search team came back, they got nothing. I’m heading out with team 2 tomorrow at sunrise, so I probably won’t see you for a couple of days.”  
“Well I intend to be working in a couple of days. There’s work to be done and it won’t be done by lying here. When’s Pete getting here?” Rhodey rolled his eyes at Erin’s stubbornness, he knew that there would be no way to persuade her against working now.  
“Just take it easy, ok Koala? I don’t wanna see you hurt anymore. Peter’s flight lands tomorrow afternoon.” Erin nodded as Rhodey placed a kiss to her forehead.

Erin grinned as Rhodey left the room, she couldn’t stop herself from watching as Clint eyed the man as he walked away,  
“Hey, Copernicus!” Clint looked over in surprise, “you comin’ in or you gonna remain a gargoyle?” Clint awkwardly walked into the room,  
“Copernicus?” He asked as he sat down where Rhodey had just been.  
“He was the guy who said ‘hey, what if the Earth goes around the sun’ and the church went ‘hey, what if we set you on fire?’ I dunno, it felt like a fitting nickname. Can’t explain why.” Clint just rose an eyebrow, deciding better than to question it when he saw Jessica’s grin.  
“Is that like ‘Koala’?” He asked with a friendly and trustable smile,  
“Nah, that’s because she likes to cuddle.” Jessica commented causing Erin to make a series of offended noises,  
“Don’t worry, I won’t share your dark secret.” Clint promised with a laugh. Clint and Jessica shared a glance when Erin closed her eyes as she cuddled closer to Jessica, both silently agreeing to help Erin stay away from break downs and to help her through her recovery.

Tony squinted as a bag was pulled from his head, still trying to recover from the waterboarding as he was led from the cave, the pain in his chest still strong after the circuit had electrocuted him in the water. The man he was being held captive with was still next to him. Tony’s eyes searched the area, trying to gain any idea of a way to escape. Apparently, he was stood still for too long because he was roughly pushed forward, nearly causing him to drop the battery. He glanced around at the multiple crates with Stark Industries stamped on the side,  
“He wants to know what you think.” His fellow prisoner stated,  
“I think you’ve got a lot of my weapons.” Tony muttered, his voice hardly audible, even to himself.  
“He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free.” Tony smirked as he held his hand out to the terrorist,  
“No, he won't.” He said quietly  
“No, he won't.” The man confirmed.

The pair were led into a different cave where they were left alone for the evening,  
“I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark.” The man told him as they sat with drink rations,  
“But they will never find you in these mountains.” Tony remained silent, the man’s words caused his mind to drift back to his friends, the people he thought of as his family: Rhodey, Erin, Peter, Pepper, and Happy. He’d promised Peter that he would help the 7-year-old build his own robot next time they saw each other.  
“Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark.” Tony just looked down to the bowl of the mush that was the food they were given.   
“Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers.” The man continued, “is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?”  
“Why should I do anything?” Tony mumbled, “they're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week.”  
“Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?” Tony glanced up to the man.

The following morning, Tony was swarmed with the terrorists, all of them listening to him about what materials he needed. He kept listing them, ignoring anyone else trying to give input and blocking out his fellow prisoner translating his words. It didn’t take long for the equipment to be brought into the room along with all the missiles and bombs that were needed to make the Jericho missile.

As morning arose, Erin and Jessica headed to the lab that Jessica had commandeered for them escorted by Clint (he was under orders to protect Erin until she was back home), the two scientists instantly began integrating IRIS and the hologram programs that ran Walker Industries in order to get down to work more effectively.  
“IRIS, you with us?”   
“Yes, Erin, it’s good to hear your voice again.”  
“Good to hear you too baby girl.” Erin said before setting to work, Jessica couldn’t stop herself from smirking at the interaction between Erin and IRIS, she would never listen to anyone that said the AI was just a machine. The AI had learnt, had created a personality as she had aged and gained experience, she was so much more than a machine.

Erin was quick to create a template despite only having one arm, Jessica was starting to code and create the basic model.   
“What’d you say about trying the impossible?” Erin asked with a grin,  
“What’re you planning?”   
“Integration and base-line organic modeling.” Erin muttered,  
“Erin, we’ve tried that in the past, it deteriorates and destroys the circuitry after 31 days. It was a science project, not application.” Jessica tried to argue.  
“We never developed it.” Erin argued, already beginning to design the plates for the integration technology for the bio-chemical matrices to be set upon.  
“Erin! It won’t stabilize!” Jessica exclaimed. Clint smiled when he realized that this was probably a common debate between the two friends.  
“IRIS, run the tests while I work.” Erin muttered, ignoring Jessica in favor of downing her third cup of coffee that morning.

The pair worked silently for a couple more hours while Erin continued to attempt to work the ‘impossible program’ into the prosthetic arm, Clint stood silently observing the entire time, only moving to accept more coffee when Jessica did another coffee run.  
“Where are we? Are we in the States?”  
“Sweden.”   
“What?! What the Hell are we doing here?!”   
“Good center for amputation treatment. Pepper sorted it.” Erin turned back to her work, trying to ignore the fact that she was the other side of the world to where she wanted to be.

Erin grinned when she heard the familiar scream of her 7-year-old adopted boy, she also couldn’t help but silently laugh when she noticed Clint tense and reach for his gun. Peter instantly ran towards Erin only to be caught by Jessica,  
“Hey, Little Man, listen, you’ve gotta be gentle with your Ma for the time being,” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper, “she’s very fragile.” Peter giggled at that, but he was gentle when he reached Erin to hug her. His giggling faded when he realized that Erin only wrapped one arm around him,  
“Ma? What happened?”  
“There was an accident, Baby. I lost my arm and hurt my back.” Peter nodded before hugging Erin tightly again.

After a moment, Peter glanced to the back of the lab to where Clint was stood,  
“That’s Copernicus, he’s keeping an eye on Ma to make sure I don’t do anything too reckless.” Peter giggled before looking back at Clint who just rolled his eyes at Erin’s nickname for him.  
“Baby, why don’t you go over and interrogate him? I can see that you want to.” Erin whispered the last sentence, but it caused Peter to grin. The boy quickly climbed onto a chair at the side of the lab with Clint. He instantly set about asking Clint as many questions as he could get away with while Erin and Jessica worked,  
“Are you a scientist too?”  
“No, I’m a special agent who’s got to keep an eye on your Ma.”  
“What’s your real name?”  
“Clint. What’s yours?”  
“Peter. Who told you to watch Ma?”  
“I’m not allowed to tell you that one.” The questions continued of a similar nature for another ten minutes before turning to thinks like what Clint’s favorite color, food, drink, country, and season were. Erin couldn’t help smiling as she listened, her mind drifting back to the first time that she had introduced Peter to Tony and Rhodey. As soon as she thought of Tony, Erin’s breath caught in her throat as she remembered the fact that Tony was more than likely dead. It took Erin several moments before she was able to start working again.

After several more painfully long hours in the lab, IRIS alerted them, telling them that the Integration and base-line organic modeling had been successful,  
“What was that about it being impossible?” Erin asked smugly causing Peter to laugh. All her fears about Tony were pushed to the side for a moment.  
“Shut up.” Jessica muttered back while Clint smirked at the interaction.  
“Easy part’s done. Now we’ve got to make an arm that is as good as a biological one. I’m not stopping working so it needs to be able to do the detailed work.”  
“I can build you a plate, but that detail? Erin, you’re banking on the impossible.” Erin rolled her eyes. She knew that she’d have to make do with a standard prosthetic for the time being while she worked on creating one suitable to allow her to keep working.

Clint met up with Fury at the Sweden base, both making sure that they were definitely alone before speaking,  
“How is she?”  
“Amputated left arm, damaged back with possible spinal damage, brain swelling that’s gone down. Mental trauma includes potential PTSD, insomnia, self-destructive tendencies. She’s also protective of the kid, Peter…”  
“How’s she doing?” Clint couldn’t stop himself from raising an eyebrow at Fury’s concern,  
“She’s doing ok. Working in the lab with a scientist named Jessica and a kid called Peter’s joined them. I got a question, who is she? To you?”  
“Classified.” Fury didn’t say anything more before dismissing Clint back to his post of protecting Erin, and now his job extended to Peter.  
“I gotta say, when you said you had a simple job, I was expecting an assassination.” Clint muttered, though he turned away before he could see Fury smirk.

Tony had set to work as soon as equipment was given to him, dismantling one of the smaller missiles as he made basic conversation with the other man, discussing languages first,  
“Who are these people?” He asked eventually,  
“They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings.” The man explained, Tony didn’t comment as he continued to strip down the missile.  
“You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process.” Tony just hummed before chucking a piece of the missile’s internal parts over his shoulder. Using a pair of tweezers, he extracted a small piece of metal from the circuit board.  
“What is that?”  
“That's palladium, 0.15 grams.” Tony explained, “we need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?”

After about 30 minutes, the pair melted down the palladium while Tony structured a mold form to pour it into.  
“Careful,” he urged from where he was stood behind the man, “we only get one shot.”  
“Relax,” the man told him as he carried the pot containing the melted palladium over to the table with the mold. “I have very steady hands, why do you think you are still alive?”  
“What do I call you?” Tony asked,   
“My name is Yinsen.”   
“Yinsen.” Tony muttered, as if testing out the name, “nice to meet you.”  
“Nice to meet you, too.” He said, pouring the palladium into the mold,

Yinsen watched as Tony continued to work once the palladium had set. Eventually, a small device emitting a pale blue light was draining the electricity from the room,  
“That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile…” Yinsen muttered,  
“That’s because it’s not. It's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart.” Tony explained.  
“But what could it generate?” Yinsen asked, curiosity getting the better of him.   
“If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second.”  
“That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes.” Yinsen’s voice was filled with awe,  
“Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes.”

Tony led Yinsen away from the arc reactor and towards what looked like a pile of tracing paper.   
“This is our ticket out of here.” Tony told him,  
“What is it?”   
“Flatten them out and look.” The papers created the blueprints of a metal suit, Yinsen’s eyes widened as he took in the concept.  
“Oh, wow. Impressive.” After several moments discussing the suit, Tony explained to Yinsen that he would need to fit the arc reactor into the socket because Tony wouldn’t be able to do so by himself. It didn’t take Yinsen too long to fit the reactor, letting Tony drop the battery thanks to the small device taking its place.

All hope seemed lost. Rhodey hadn’t stopped searching for Tony, but there hadn’t been any sign of him in the 11 weeks since the Humvee attack. In those 11 weeks, Erin had been developing her prosthetic arm, Jessica had returned to America at week 3 on orders from the Board of Directors, leaving Erin to continue to work by herself with no assistance, she may have Peter and Clint, but one was only 7 and the other was no biomedical engineer with a talent for neuron integration into artificial tech. She’d locked down the lab, leaving only herself, Peter, Clint, and Rhodey with access. It also meant that she was living off of a diet of coffee and whatever snacks she managed to acquire when Clint took Peter to get food. Every time she got close to the arm being functional, the coding collapsed and the biological aspect that would allow motor control deteriorated.

In those 11 weeks, Erin got used to the prosthetic that she had been given at week 2, but she was determined to complete the one that would allow her to work much more delicately and rely less on the holograms and IRIS’s coding.

Eventually, on week 11, day 3, hour 6, the arm was printed successfully with little chance of the biological aspect deteriorating, but this was only a mark 1, she would replace the biological aspect as soon as she could to allow for a more reliable prosthetic.

It didn’t take Erin long to adjust to the arm, it mostly responded to her demands, allowing her to do more delicate work. The hand and lower half of the forearm also had a printed copy of her skin tone and arm appearance to make it look more human, that had become one of her conditions when she was told that most of the world didn’t know that she’d lost her arm.

Now that her arm was complete, she was heading back to the States, specifically Malibu in order to be with Pepper and Happy for a little while before heading back to work. Peter was joining her on the flight, but Clint was leaving them once they reached the airport,  
“I have to say, Copernicus, thanks for the company.” The trio all smiled at the nickname that had become common for Clint to be called over the last three months.  
“Thanks for the learning experience.” Clint replied with a smirk, ruffling Peter’s hair,  
“Listen, Clint, in all seriousness now, when you next need those replacing,” she motioned to his ears, specifically his hearing aids, “just give me a call… or a text.” She finished, pushing a business card into his hand. He nodded, shaking her hand only to be pulled in for a hug before opening the car door for her and Peter, Peter hugged Clint, whispering a ‘thank you’ into the agent’s ear before climbing into the car next to Erin.  
“Stay safe.” He called just as the car set off. Clint couldn’t help but silently hope that that wasn’t the last he saw of those two. He flicked the card against his fingers before carefully sliding it into his pocket and going to collect his gear to return home.

Tony and Yinsen sat playing a game of backgammon as they ate some food, they’d both been in captivity for 3 months, Yinsen had been there for several weeks longer that Tony,  
“You still haven’t told me where you’re from.” Tony stated between rolls of the dice,  
“I’m from a small town called Gulmir. It’s actually a nice place.” Tony saw that faint smile cross Yinsen’s features as he thought about his home.  
“Got a family?”  
“Yes. And I will see them when I leave here. What about you, Stark?” Tony paused for a moment, his mind heading to Pepper, Rhodey, Erin, and Happy. In the end he shook his head, deciding to let his family of choice remain a silent understanding.  
“So you are a man who has everything, and nothing.” In truth, Yinsen’s words summed it up perfectly.

Only moments later, the sound of movement outside the door grabbed their attention. The pair stood up and moved away from the table, raising their hands to the back of their heads.  
“Relax,” Came the voice of a man who hadn’t been to them before, he looked over to Tony, his eyes focused on the blue light hidden under Tony’s shirt. He pulled at the t-shirt, revealing the arc reactor, the movement caused Tony to tense, wanting to bat the man’s hand away,  
“The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire. But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn.” The man turned to Yinsen and began speaking to him in a language that Tony didn’t understand. Several of the men grabbed Yinsen, forcing him to place the side of his head on the anvil while the leader of the terrorists lifted a coal from the fire, holding it towards Yinsen.  
“What does he want? What do you want? A delivery date?” Tony stepped forwards causing all the men to aim their weapons at Tony.  
“I need him. Good assistant.” Tony stated, not daring to move but desperate to stop the man from killing Yinsen.  
“You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile.” The man spat as they left the room.

The pair worked tirelessly through the night as they attempted to finish assembling the suit. By what they assumed was morning, the suit was finished. Yinsen helped Tony into the heat-resistant clothing, wrapping his neck and then helping him into the metal suit. All the while, Tony was reciting the path he would take to Yinsen before sending Yinsen to initialize the suit. The sound of voices coming down the corridor caused the pair to look over, Yinsen began to panic as they shouted at the in Hungarian while he was fastening Tony into the suit. Moments later the bomb on the door exploded,  
“How’d that work?” Tony asked,  
“Oh my goodness.” Yinsen continued to follow Tony’s instructions in initializing the power sequence and fastening the suit,  
“Make sure the checkpoints are clear before following me out.”   
“There’s no time…” Yinsen muttered, he turned back to Tony, “I’ll go and buy you some more time.” Yinsen grabbed a gun, running to take down more of the terrorists.  
“Yinsen!” Tony yelled, stuck as the suit charged up.

As soon as he could, Tony began taking down the guards, killing as many as he could until he found Yinsen,  
“Look out.” The older man croaked from where he was lying on a stack of crates. A bomb detonated only meters from Tony, he quickly shot down the man who’d launched the bomb. Tony ran over to Yinsen, worry clear on his features when he saw the extent of the man’s injuries.  
“Come on, we’ve got to go.” Tony said softly, Yinsen didn’t move, “Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it.” Tony tried desperately to get the man, his friend, to move.  
“This was always the plan, Stark.” Yinsen whispered, his eyes closing for a moment. Tony’s breath caught in his throat.  
“Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up.”  
“My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark.” Tony froze when Yinsen spoke,   
“It's okay. I want this. I want this.” Yinsen continued softly.  
“Thank you for saving me.” Tony whispered.  
“Don't waste it. Don't waste your life. Don’t waste your life, Stark.” Yinsen’s eyes closed for a final time.

Tony turned to the entrance to the cave where a swarm of the terrorists had gathered. They were shooting at him the moment he left the cave, after several moments the gunfire stopped,  
“My turn.” Tony growled before letting the flamethrowers work. He took down the terrorists, destroyed his weapons, and let them explode before he took off in flight. He didn’t get very far before he came crashing down to the ground with the suit falling apart around him.

Erin tensed as her plane landed at that airport that she’d left from over 3 months ago. 3 months, 5 days, 16 hours, and 53 minutes to be precise, not that Erin was keeping count. Her mind span as she grabbed her laptop bag and Peter’s hand and headed off of the private jet, her eyes instantly landed on Pepper, Happy, May, and Erin’s bodyguard Richard. Erin didn’t care about people’s expectations; she ran over to her friends, Peter at her side, hugging them all close as she buried her face against Richard’s shoulder. Tears didn’t fall as she hugged them, she refused to let them, she was done crying now. Eventually, the six broke apart, electing to head to Erin’s Malibu house where they could catch up.

As soon as she was inside, several robots beeped happily as wheeled themselves over to Erin, several of them inspected her new arm, their claws spinning in a way that Erin had identified as meaning confusion. She patted all of them gently, a smile on her lips, before leading the group over to the couch in the living room. Sliding off her jacket, Erin let out a breath as her friends looked at her prosthetic arm,  
“Does it hurt?” Pepper asked softly,  
“Not really anymore, it did, but not since I changed to this model.” The five adults continued talking well into the night, continuing even when Peter fell asleep curled up on Erin’s lap, eventually they fell asleep on the couch.

Clint arrived at the Triskelion much too soon for his liking, Fury was already asking for a final report on everything that had happened in the last three months. Clint sat in one of the smaller briefing rooms with just Fury.   
“Her back healed and she’s not got any real lasting damage there. The arm, she’s already said that it’s temporary, allows her good movement and she has a form of sensation in the arm. Her PTSD isn’t too serious, but she does have obvious survivors guilt – she saw those soldiers die and yet she lives. She relies on communication with Peter and IRIS and those who work for her…” Clint continued for several minutes, filling in Fury on what had happened.

Tony didn’t know how long he stumbled through the desert, the heat scorching the tender skin on his arms that had been burnt by the explosion. The only thing that kept going through his mind was Yinsen’s words, telling him not to waste his life. The sound of helicopters grabbed his attention and as soon as he saw them, Toy was yelling and waving frantically.

Falling to his knees, Tony watched as the two helicopters landed and a group of soldiers ran towards him.   
“How was the fun-vee?” Came the familiar sound of Rhodey’s voice, “next time you ride with me, ok?” Rhodey’s voice wavered as he wrapped Tony in a hug.  
“Erin?” Rhodey tightened his hold on Tony,  
“Her plane should’ve landed back in the US by now. She’s ok.” Tony let out a sob of relief, clutching tighter to Rhodey as he told her that Erin was ok.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Press conferences and questions from employees are a necessary evil for any CEO who's been MIA for three months, but once that's over, the real work can begin. Erin and Tony reunite after three months of being apart, while most people would take a break, Erin and Tony instantly leap into the next job with their eyes wide open... at least they would if they didn't require some repairs first. It's time to begin pulling each other out of the deep water they've been thrown into.

Pepper, Happy, Peter, and Erin stood at the military base, waiting for the plane with Rhodey and Tony on to land. They stood for almost an hour before Tony’s plane came into view, Erin had been physically bouncing as she waited, desperate to see Tony. Pepper had been crying while Happy elected to wait in the car. Peter had been asking every few seconds how much longer it would be until Tony returned.

The plane opened and Erin couldn’t stop herself from letting out a laugh as Tony stood up from the wheelchair that Rhodey probably had to fight him into. She watched as Tony sent away some doctors with a stretcher, as soon as he was off of the plane, Erin ran towards Tony, both them and Rhodey were grinning like lunatics when Erin came to a stop in front of them. Tony wrapped her in a tight hug, or as tight as he could with one arm in a sling, Erin instantly copied the motion, hesitating slightly with the prosthetic. Rhodey laughed beside them as he watched the pair reunite, Peter ran over too and was instantly caught in Rhodey’s arms. He hugged them both as they held each other, pressing Peter into the middle of their group hug, they all had their family back and they weren’t going to risk losing them again.

Tony led them over to where Pepper stood with a smile on her lips,  
“Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?” Tony asked with a straight face while Erin chuckled beside him.  
“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.” Pepper sassed back causing Tony to smile briefly,  
“Yep, vacation’s over, we’ve got work to do.” Tony led them to the car, motioning for Erin and Peter to join him and Pepper while Rhodey headed to a debrief with his CO. A car seat was already set up in the back, Pepper was sat in the front while two CEO’s and the 7-year-old settled into the back.

Once they were in the car, Pepper immediately asked Happy to take them to the hospital.  
“No.” Tony ordered,  
“No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital.” Pepper argued, Erin tensed at the idea of another hospital.   
“No is a complete answer.”  
“The doctor has to look at you.”  
“I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other...” his voice faded off causing Erin to roll her eyes,   
“That's enough of that.” Pepper scoffed,  
“...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now.” Erin nodded, only just remembering that she needed to set one up too in order to let the world know what was going to happen next.  
“Call for a press conference?” Pepper exclaimed,  
“Yeah.”  
“What on earth for?” Pepper asked again, still trying to get answers.  
“Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first.” Tony ordered, his hand not slipping from Erin’s flesh one, she hadn’t told him about the prosthetic yet, but she knew that she would need to.

As soon as the car came to a stop, reporters were trying to swarm them, Erin tried to almost disappear into the seat,  
“I’ll wait here, join Rhodey when he arrives.” Tony nodded, giving Erin’s hand a final squeeze before exiting the car with Pepper. Obadiah seemed to be trying to lead Tony through the reporters, but Erin couldn’t help but notice that Tony seemed to flinch away from the touch the smallest amount.

After several minutes, Rhodey arrived and Erin climbed out of the car to join him, leaving Peter with Happy and away from the reporters.  
“I swear I’m gonna hit several reporters.” Rhodey chuckled for a moment,  
“Feisty Raven.” He muttered, using the nickname Tony had given Erin when she’d gotten into her first fight back at MIT. The pair met up with Pepper at the back of the room just as Tony asked everyone to sit down,  
“What’s with the love-in?” Rhodey whispered,  
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know what he’s doing.” Pepper muttered back as the trio turned their attention to Tony.  
“I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did, if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels.” Tony paused for a moment and his eyes caught Erin’s,   
“I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.” Erin let out a shaky breath, trying to steady herself.

Several reporters called for Tony to answer their question, Tony’s eyes landed on one that he recognized, Ben, Erin heard him say.  
“What happened over there?” Tony stood up at that,  
“I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be.” Erin’s eyes widened, joy filling her at the prospect that Tony was going to stop weapons manufacture.

Erin didn’t hear the rest of what Tony and Obadiah were saying, choosing instead to let Rhodey lead her back to the car, Richard was waiting to take her to Walker Industries, Peter was already asleep in the back of the car. Erin turned to Rhodey,  
“Look, I know you’re pissed at the idea, but talk to him, hear what he has to say. Understand why he’s closing it. Rhodey, you didn’t see his face when those three soldiers were killed by his weapons, and neither of us saw what he went through over the last three months.” Rhodey let out a breath, but he stayed listening to Erin,  
“Talk to him, let him help you understand why he’s done it. I’ll be there tonight if you can make it.” Rhodey nodded but made no promises, electing instead to head back to the air base to deal with his CO.

Richard opened the car door for Erin, letting her climb in,  
“Where to, Doc?”  
“Take me to the Hub, thanks Richie.” Richard nodded, setting about driving to the main facility which was about 10 minutes from where they were. Erin let herself relax for the first time in three months before sending a message to department heads and key personnel to let them know that a meeting was being called.

Arriving at the Hub, Erin tensed when she saw the mass of workers and press stood outside to greet her. Security guards were already attempting to clear a path.  
“Ready, Erin?” Richard asked, he only got a nod in response. Richard walked around to Erin’s side of the car and opened to door and led her towards the building, they left Peter asleep with the silent agreement that Richard would bring him through the back entrance in a few minutes. The cacophony of noise was beginning to panic Erin as she tried to ignore the press asking their questions.   
“Hey, Richie, can you do me a favor and call for a press conference for next Wednesday 10:00am?” Richard nodded, leaving Erin as soon as she was in the lobby.

The conference room was full of her department heads when Erin arrived, she shook each of their hands before hugging Jessica,  
“What do they know?” Erin whispered, knowing nobody else heard,  
“Nothing.” Erin nodded and let Jessica go before turning to address everyone.   
“As you can probably guess, some things are going to be changing thanks to my three months of leave. I can assure you that no department is being closed down.” Erin smiled as the department heads looked relieved at the news,  
“However, our Military Medical R&D program is to be heightened to employ another 800 staff, similarly, Jessica is being moved to a new department of prosthetic development where we will employ a sum of 2000 staff spread across design, research, development, manufacture, and distribution & sales.” Jessica raised an eyebrow at the new while the head of staff, Ryan, began jotting down ideas for recruitment and redistribution of staff.   
“Another thing,” Erin took a breath before looking at Jessica for reassurance,  
“I will be taking a step back for the foreseeable future, while I will still be present as CEO, I won’t be doing as much of the work within the company.”  
“May we ask why?” Ryan asked, Erin tensed momentarily before taking off her suit jacket to reveal the metal arm hidden underneath. Thankfully, nobody questioned or made comments,  
“As you can guess, this is all being kept under wraps for the time being until tell the public at a press conference. Anyone found releasing this information to anyone outside of this room will face legal action. A second thing being kept under wraps is that I have adopted a son, he has been living with me for nearly two years and has been kept away from the press, I would like it to be kept that way despite the fact that he will be here with me a lot of the time.” Everyone nodded just before Erin dismissed them, letting Ryan find any staff already suited to a role in the new prosthetics division.

When Erin and Jessica were the only ones left, Erin let out a breath and collapsed onto her chair,  
“So, a new prosthetics department? Were you going to tell me?” Jessica had barely finished her question when Peter was brought in, Erin didn’t speak but lifted the boy onto her lap.  
“I didn’t really plan it, I just know that it needs to be done, I need this to happen, Jessie.” Jessica wrapped an arm around Erin, pulling the smaller woman and Peter into a side hug, Erin copied the motion back.  
“God you and Stark have been back a day and you’re already determined to stick me and Rhodey in early graves.” Erin couldn’t stop herself from laughing at that, finally glad to be home. Peter and Jessica quickly joined her in laughing as the tension seeped out of the room.

Erin and Peter finally left the Hub at 7pm, she felt exhausted from all the interaction. Erin could hear herself growl when she saw Richard smirking at her,  
“Where to Ma’am?”  
“Tony’s mansion.” Erin said before curling up on the back seat, hugging Peter gently as she did so. It was nearly an hour’s drive; Erin didn’t know when she nodded off to sleep, but the next thing she knew was Richard was telling her that they had arrived.  
“I’ll see you on Wednesday. I’ll probably just stay here until then; I’ll tell you if I leave.” Richard nodded, waiting until Erin was inside before leaving.

The house was dark when Erin opened the door,  
“Good evening Doctor Walker, Mister Parker.” Came the familiar voice of JARVIS,  
“Hey Jay, is Tony in?”  
“He’s down in the workshop.” Erin nodded her thanks before jogging the familiar route to the workshop. As soon as her eyes found Tony, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around him, Tony buried his nose in Erin’s hair, but his eyes were fixed on the computer screens.

After several minutes, Erin glanced at the screen and saw that it was a scan of Tony, but there was a circular disc embedded in his chest.   
“Tones? What’s…” Tony motioned for Erin to sit on the desk, as soon as she was seated Tony lifted Peter and placed the boy on Erin’s lap, motioning for him to watch too. Tony looked to them with eyes full of pleading as he unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of his shirt. Erin’s mouth opened slightly when she saw the glowing circle of metal in Tony’s chest. Peter reached out with gentle fingers to touch the glowing circle. Tony placed his hand flat over the boy’s letting him know that it was ok.  
“Miniaturized arc reactor?” Erin asked with a raised eyebrow, Tony nodded silently, not too sure what to say until Erin broke out laughing,  
“What is it with us playing with the impossible?” Tony looked at her in confusion as she took off her jacket to reveal her arm. Tony’s fingers brushed against the metal of the upper arm before touching the printed skin-like material of the forearm and hand.  
“The base-line organics?”  
“Yeah. I’m ditching that idea as soon as I can. The organic compound is too unstable to be reliable, so I’m going to test an artificial base that connects to the nervous system and allows complete control. I’m gonna become a cyborg.” Tony laughed at the last comment before pulling Erin and Peter into a hug again.

Tony closed his eyes, his mind spinning, he was the one responsible for this, he had cost Erin her arm, and cost so many others their lives. Tony squeezed his eyes shut as he considered everything that had been affected by the weapons he had designed and authorized, it wasn’t fair that Erin had lost her arm, she was the kindest, most loving person that Tony knew, and yet, life had no problem in kicking her while she was down.

The trio stayed in a hug until JARVIS alerted them to Rhodey’s arrival,  
“Send him down, Jay.” Tony muttered,  
“Already here.” Rhodey stated from the doorway. Erin and Tony both stood up, Tony buttoned up his shirt while Erin left her jacket on the table. Peter ran for another hug from Rhodey, the young boy was clearly determined to catch up on all the hugs that he’d missed over the last three months.  
“Tony, tell me, tell us, what’s really going on? What happened to make you shut down the weapons?” Rhodey asked, desperately wanting to understand. Tony nodded silently to Erin, asking her to take Peter up to bed before he would explain himself.

Erin returned about 10 minutes later and Tony took a breath as he led his two best friends over to the couch in the workshop.  
“Terrorists had my weapons. Crates of them that had definitely been sent to them. I didn’t agree those shipments, but somebody did. Shutting down weapons development means that those terrorists can’t use my guns to hurt innocent people.” Erin gripped Tony’s hand as he spoke.  
“They wanted me to, uh, to build them a Jericho. I didn’t, but if I had, they would’ve killed thousands… Erin, you were right, we have to do better. I wanna be better.” Rhodey hugged Tony to his side, but no one spoke, electing instead to remain in a comfortable silence.

After several minutes Tony began telling them of his plan to improve the arc reactor in his chest, Erin remained unusually silent throughout Tony’s explanation, causing both him and Rhodey to look over to their best friend,  
“Raven? What’s up?” Tony asked softly,  
“There’re too many faults with the arm, I need to remove the organic component before it deteriorates in two weeks. It won’t last any longer than that.” She explained, not looking up from her lap,  
“Your lab’s still set up here, you can work on that while I work on the reactor. Happy can make sure Peter gets to school and back safely every day, if the kid’s in danger then he can stay with May.” Erin nodded, feeling at home once again.

Rhodey left the pair once he was certain that they would be ok until Pepper arrived in the morning. Erin ditched her bag on the bed in her room at the mansion, detaching the arm and setting that on the desk. Erin looked at herself in the full-length mirror for what was really the first time, her eyes searching desperately until she couldn’t take it any longer, she silently headed to Tony’s room, not surprised when she saw him sat on the bed wide awake.  
“Can I stay in here?” Erin asked weakly, fear ebbing its way into her voice. Tony didn’t speak, but rather moving over on the bed to allow Erin to sit next to him.

The pair settled silently, neither too confident in their voices to risk breaking the silence. Tony wrapped his arms tightly around Erin, using her to ground himself while she curled closer into his chest, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Erin tried to fend away the memories of those soldiers from Afghanistan, Tony’s arms tensed around her as he tensed with his own nightmares.

Tony was the first to wake out of the pair, waking when the arc reactor felt like it was crushing his lungs thanks to having turned onto his side in the night which caused the socket to press painfully on his damaged lung. Erin wasn’t much later in waking up, though. Tony looked her over for a moment,  
“What’d say we head down to the shop and get some work done?” Tony suggested, knowing neither of them would get any more sleep despite it only being 4am,  
“Works for me.” Erin muttered, deciding against attaching the Mark VII prosthetic. The pair both grabbed a cup of coffee as they headed down to the ‘shop, neither speaking as they planned their own projects for the day.

They had been working silently for several hours when JARVIS alerted them to Pepper’s arrival, Erin barely acknowledged the voice, electing to focus on the holographic arm projected in front of her, her focus centered on the wiring that would allow the nervous system to connect with the arm. IRIS was connected to the holo-board allowing her to interact with the plans and allow Jessica to have influence back at the Hub. Peter came down for a few minutes before Happy arrived to take him to school, Peter was hugged by both Erin and Tony before he left the ‘shop.

Eventually, Tony called Erin over, calling her to help him,  
“How small are your hands?”  
“Just short of 3 inches wide, why?” Tony rolled his eyes as he hopped up onto a medical table, he held up a new arc reactor, much neater than the current one,  
“I need you to do me a favor. I was trying to replace it, but I ran into a speedbump.”   
“What happened?”  
“There’s an exposed wire underneath this device, I just need you to reach in and lift out the wire.” Erin nodded, grabbing one of her surgical gloves that she kept in her desk drawer.   
“There’s a fluid.” Erin grumbled,  
“It’s an inorganic plasmic discharge, it’s from the device, not from my body.” Erin nodded, turning her focus back to locating the wire. She found the wire easily and began lifting it out, keeping it away from the socket wall as she did so.  
“Tones, there’s resistance, what d’you want me to do?”  
“It’s still connected to the electromagnet…” Tony muttered before addressing Erin, “you’re gonna pull it out and then attach this. You’ll have about two minutes before I go into cardiac arrest.” Erin nodded and took the reactor from Tony before yanking out the magnet. The machines around them began to speed up their beeping, but Erin ignored them in favor of attaching the reactor.

Tony exclaimed in shock as the arc reactor was connected to the base plate,   
“Are you ok?” Erin asked, concern lacing her voice,  
“Yeah, I feel great,” Tony answered before laughing,   
“Don’t ever, ever, ever do that to me again.” Erin grumbled, wiping the slime-like substance over Tony’s shoulder causing him to laugh harder, Erin joined him in laughing as he hopped up from the table. Tony sobered after a moment,  
“I don’t have anyone like you.” He muttered, wiping his hands and shoulder with a towel. Erin turned to look at him, about to argue that he had Pepper and Rhodey,  
“You’ve never doubted me, no matter how risky the plan.” Erin took Tony’s hand in hers,  
“And you’ve never doubted me. Tones, I will leave my life in your hands and trust that it’s safe, that’s because I know the real Tony Stark, not that façade that you put on for the press.” Tony smiled widely, his eyes scanning over Erin, she seemed completely at ease in the workshop, the calmest he’d seen her since before the day she left for LA over 4 months ago.

Erin headed back over to her desk, her attention back on the prosthetic arm, she was already well under way to replacing the organic components with artificial nerve systems to allow connection to the biological nervous system in her body. She didn’t register Tony talking to Pepper, instead choosing to focus on JARVIS initiating automated assembly of the arm. As JARVIS set about creating the arm, Erin’s eyes dropped to the original arc reactor on the corner of her desk, she knew that Tony wouldn’t want to keep it, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for incinerating the device that kept her closest friend alive. Compromising, Erin shut the small device in the lock drawer of her desk.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the process of changing the world begins. Just like everything, it starts as an idea but quickly builds into something so much greater, including an attempt to drag in another friend. Old friends become the subject to suspicions and friendships continue to grow and the role of a mother stops for no one.

Tony watched Erin working, he knew that the arm was in assembly, but that didn’t stop Erin from continuing with her work, it seemed that she didn’t ever stop working. His mind was already spinning with plans for a new project, a project to create a suit like the one he escaped in, but he wanted Erin at his side.  
“Raven, come here a sec.” Erin shot a look over to him but headed over to him nonetheless,  
“I wanted your opinion on something.” Erin motioned for him to explain, “I wanna build a suit, or rather two suits, that can be used in order to protect people.”  
“Weaponized suits?”  
“Realistically, they would both be, but I can understand if you want it to be limited weapons and designed to protect people.” Realization hit Erin like a brick wall,  
“Wait, my suit? You mean us? Our suits? Both of us in suits to defend the people from potential threats?” Tony nodded at Erin’s analysis, his eyes watching her cautiously as she thought about Peter and what it would mean to him.  
“Don’t limit my weaponry then. I’ll need to protect people just as well as you will.” Tony wrapped Erin tightly in his arms, a grin on his face.

Erin’s eyebrows creased as she continued to think about the idea,  
“I gotta ask though,” Erin began, wrapping her arm around Tony, “why me? Why not Rhodey? He’s an aerospace engineer after all.”  
“But you’re you. I can’t think of anyone I wanna do this with other than you. Honey Bear may be our rocket scientist, but I trust no one like I trust you. And even if it was just for a moment, Rhodey doubted me. You never did.” Erin smiled and leant against the desk,  
“Tones, I’ll tell you, I’ve wanted you to shut down the weapons manufacture since the day that you became CEO. Tony, I’ve always thought that you don’t belong creating weapons, you’re too good for that.” Tony raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak, it was clear that Erin wasn’t finished,  
“You create robots that you see as people, you raise them as children, you belong somewhere else other than weapons creation. I’ve watched you with Pete, you protect him from the weapons as though you’re ashamed of them, you’ve got more to offer than weapons, Tones.”  
“You really think that?” Tony whispered, weaker than anyone besides Erin had ever heard him.  
“Yes. With all my heart.”

Tony and Erin headed to the air base that they knew Rhodey was working at, determined to at least try to get him on board with the plan. They heard him talking to a group of recruits,  
“The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned? I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment.”  
“Colonel? Why not a pilot without the plane?” Tony asked with a smirk,  
“Look who fell out of the sky. Mr. Tony Stark and Doctor Erin Walker.” He hugged them both and let them shake the hands of some of the cadets. A couple of the recruits looked at Erin for a second longer, taking in the fact that she only had one arm, but none of them commented,  
“But seriously Colonel, what about a pilot without a plane? Take out blind spots and increase security of the individual. A pilot in an individual matrix controlling themselves?” Rhodey shot Erin a look at her words but was quick to mask his confusion,  
“You got a minute?” Tony asked, Rhodey quickly dismissed the recruits before turning back to his best friends.

The trio waited until the recruits were out of hearing range before Erin and Tony began to approach the topic.  
“I'm surprised.” Rhodey muttered before either of them could speak,   
“Why?”  
“I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon.” Erin and Tony shared a look,  
“We’re doing a little better than walking.” Rhodey glanced between them, trying to decide whether he wanted to know what they were up to or not.  
“Rhodey, we’re working on something big.” Tony began, “we came to talk to you. We want you to be a part of it.”  
“What’re we talking here? This have something to do with your ‘pilot without a plane’?”  
“This is not for the military.” Erin muttered, Rhodey looked between the pair,  
“I will stop by as soon as, but right now I can’t. I’ve been appointed as head of training and I can’t ditch out for the time being.” The pair nodded, they’d already come to the decision that Rhodey probably wouldn’t be able to join them due to his CO keeping an annoyingly close eye on him since he spent three months searching for Tony and supporting Erin in Sweden.   
“Both of you, don’t overwork yourselves, you’re still recovering so take time to rest. Eat properly too. I’ll come over in a couple of days to check in. Rhodey gave them both a final hug before heading back to his recruits.

The pair arrived back at the mansion, barely stopping for a moment to say hi to Pepper before heading straight down to the workshop where IRIS had alerted Erin that the arm with finished and ready for attachment to the joint and shoulder brace. Tony helped her settle onto the medical chair before going to collect the arm from the assembly machine before helping Erin attach it. As soon as it was connected, Tony stepped back to allow Erin to do her standard tests,  
“How does it feel?”  
“Great. I can feel it.” Erin breathed, her voice barely more than a whisper. Tony held his hands out to her and Erin ran her mechanical fingers over the calluses of his hand,  
“Let it never be said that Tony Stark doesn’t work with his hands.” Erin breathed before holding Tony’s hand for a moment. Tony watched Erin’s new fingers move over his callused palm, the fingers felt almost biological, just slightly too cold. The pair stayed silent for a long moment; Erin’s eyes focused on their hands while Tony’s eyes watched the concentration on Erin’s face.  
“Let’s get to work.” She whispered, dropping his hand after a moment.

Tony waved his hand over the keyboard, loading up the multiple computers,  
“JARVIS, you up?”  
“For you, Sir, always. Erin, it is good to see you here still.”  
“Good to be here Jay.”  
“I’d like you to open a new project file. Index it as Mark II” Tony stated, heading over to the hologram projection table, Erin already stood on the other side of the table.  
“Shall I store it on the Stark Industries Central Database?” JARVIS asked,  
“Actually, I don't know who to trust right now. Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on mine and Erin’s joint private server?” Erin raised her eyebrow to Tony but quickly focused on the holographic suit displayed in front of them.  
“Working on a secret project, are we, Sir?”  
“I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in ours, it can actually do some good.” Erin smiled as she and Tony set about editing and improving the weaponized suit that he’d used to escape Afghanistan.

The pair worked on the suit for the next week whenever Peter was at school or asleep. They’d made a deal that whenever Peter was at the mansion, the pair would spend as much time with the boy as possible, whether that be watching movies or in the workshop letting him engage his mind more than he ever could at school. They let Peter see the plans, letting him hang around with them after dinner while they worked on the suits.

Tony sat at his table, focusing on the mechanical boot on the desk in front of him, Dum-E was in charge of the magnifying glass. Tony kept giving the bot instructions that Erin tuned out while she worked on the gauntlets in front of her.  
“You are a tragedy.” Tony stated, glancing over to the bot who had been ignoring the instructions,  
“Don’t bully him.” Erin scolded, earning a couple of happy beeps from the robot in question. Tony grinned at his best friend while Peter giggled from his place on the couch.

Erin and Tony turned back to their work; correcting and improving the gauntlets and boots respectively until JARVIS spoke up,  
“Doctor Walker, it is 8:30.”   
“Thanks Jay.” Erin took Peter’s hand as she led the boy up to his room. Peter settled into his bed, his eyes already drooping which caused Erin to smile. Peter was mumbling softly as he fell asleep, curling up as Erin left the room.

Arriving back in the workshop, Erin grinned when she saw Tony just finishing up on the last of the four boots. She still had one gauntlet to finish before she was done for the night, but that wouldn’t take her too long. Tony smirked as he headed over to join Erin at her workbench once he’d finished, watching silently as she worked, finishing the last few details of the gauntlet, testing it’s movement before setting it down next to its pair.

When morning arose, it took Erin several moments to realize that she had fallen asleep in Tony’s room again. JARVIS woke them both in time for them to get Peter up and ready for school, Erin had decided to drive him herself that day,  
“You’re spending the weekend with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, she’s gonna pick you up after school and she’ll fly with you back on Monday, so you won’t be at school on Monday.” Erin said, kissing Peter’s temple as she dropped him off.  
“Cool!” The boy exclaimed, Peter adored his aunt and uncle and spent time with them whenever Erin was away or every few weekends.

“We’ve got until Monday before Pete’s back!” Erin called as she reached the workshop after arriving back at the mansion.   
“Well how about we test lift today?” Tony offered his hand to Erin, leading her over to the test pad. Tony stepped into the boots, connecting them to his reactor. Erin did her own checks over all of the connections, mainly focusing on where they were secured to the reactor. Tony remained silent as Erin’s fingers danced skillfully around the cables and the reactor before she stepped off of the test platform and allowed Tony to begin testing.  
“Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center. Dum-E look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. U roll it.” The two robots activated as Erin sat down to watch and be ready to move in case medical support was needed.

“Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one.” Tony ignited the boots and was instantly thrown against the wall. Dum-E sprayed him with the fire extinguisher as Erin ran over laughing,  
“Glad to see you care so much.” Tony grumbled as he stood up.   
“We need flight stabilizers before we try that again. Fit them in the center of the gloves in order to allow easy maneuverability.” Tony nodded as the pair headed over to the desk to begin structuring the flight stabilizers.

The pair lost track of time, they also ignored the intercom as it continued to chime. Erin finished off the last few joins of cable before Tony closed the stabilizer over his arm and lifted it off the stand,  
“I’ve been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?”   
“Yeah, everything's... What?” Tony barely registered that Pepper had spoken, choosing instead to focus on Erin as she did her final few checks before letting him do the initial test.  
“Obadiah's upstairs.” Pepper told them,  
“How’s it feel?” Erin asked,   
“Great, feels fine.” Tony muttered, Pepper just rolled her eyes as she watched the two geniuses completely absorbed in their own world.  
“What would you like me to tell him?”  
“We'll be right up.” Tony responded, now it was Pepper’s turn to barely register that someone had spoken,  
“I thought you said you were done making weapons.”  
“I am.” Tony responded,   
“This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless.” Erin reassured her. Tony activated it and was immediately thrown backwards.  
“I wasn’t expecting that…” He grumbled while Erin laughed and Pepper covered her mouth in shock.

Pepper left the pair to pack the stabilizer away before they joined her upstairs to see Obadiah.  
“How’d it go?” Obi just glared at Tony, raising his eyebrow when he saw Erin stood next to him.  
“That bad, huh?” Tony muttered,  
“Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn’t mean it went bad.” Obi defended, “would’ve gone better if you were there though,” he shot over as he approached the couch.   
“You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing.” Tony defended, “I lay low, and you take care of all...”  
“Hey, come on. In public. The press.” Obi snapped back, “this was a board of directors meeting.” Tony’s eyes widened,   
“This was a board of directors meeting?”  
“The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress.” Erin nodded slightly; she couldn’t deny the fact that she wasn’t far from giving Tony the same diagnosis.  
“They're filing an injunction.” Obi continued.  
“A what?” Tony and Erin asked in sync, both of them were wide-eyed at the idea.   
“They want to lock you out.”  
“Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.”  
“Fifty-six and a half.” Pepper corrected earning a glare from Erin,  
“It doesn't matter!” Tony snapped before turning back to Obi,  
“We own the controlling interest in the company.”  
“Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest.”   
“I'm being responsible!” Tony defended, “that's a new direction for me, for the company.” Pepper and Obi both raised their eyebrow’s at Tony’s quick correction,  
“I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that...”

Tony’s voice faded when he took in the looks on Pepper’s and Obi’s faces. “This is great.” He muttered, standing up and grabbing the pizza box. Erin walked next to him.  
“Oh, come on!” Obie yelled over to the pair, “Tony. Tony.”   
“I'll be in the shop.” Tony yelled back, ignoring Obie until the man grabbed his arm,  
“Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that.” He pointed to the arc reactor. “You know, draw up some specs.”  
“No. No, absolutely not.” Tony snapped quickly, Obie didn’t seem to get the memo and kept pushing,  
“It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!”  
“This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it.” Tony stated, Obie took back the pizza box,  
“All right, well, this stays with me, then. Go on, here, you can have a piece. Take two.” Erin grabbed two slices as she passed too,  
“Thank you.” The pair yelled as they headed for the stairs,  
“You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?”  
“Good night, Obie.”

Obie turned to Pepper once the pair were out of sight, the PA’s head was in her hands out of pure exasperation at the geniuses.  
“How long’s that been going on?” Pepper raised an eyebrow in confusion at Obie’s question,  
“Walker staying here, I mean.”  
“Since Tony came home.” Pepper responded, choosing not to mention Peter just yet. Obie left the conversation there.

In the workshop, Erin was throwing her tools angrily back into her toolbox,  
“Ok, you’re angrier than you should be. What’s up?” Erin sent an exasperated look to Tony,  
“Seriously?” Erin rolled her eyes at Tony’s blank face, “who benefits most from you being out of the picture? Who’s always been the one encouraging you to design weapons?”  
“Raven? You aren’t thinking that Obie’s going against me?”  
“Tones, I don’t know what to think other than the fact that someone who you trust inside the company is going against you in every way.” Tony nodded, but he still ignored the fact that it could be Obie.

The pair remained in the workshop for another couple of hours fixing up the flight stabilizer a small amount before both deciding to head to bed. Tony couldn’t shake Erin’s suggestion that Obie might be working against him. He didn’t want to believe that his godfather would betray him like that, but he couldn’t ignore what Erin had said about how Obie had always been the one to encourage him to develop weapons, even when he was a kid.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Press conferences have never been a positive thing, nor a fun thing, this one was the worst in Erin's opinion. On the other hand, flying was a dream, flying at night, over Malibu, was the best thing imaginable. Crashing through the roof or having to crash your own party isn't quite so fun.

The Wednesday of Erin’s press conference arrived, her mind was spinning as she stood in the side room with Tony, Peter, Rhodey, and Jessica, the group were all trying to reassure Erin that telling the public about her arm and the new developments in the company was necessary, her suit meant that her metal hand could be easily seen if a person was looking at her hands. Tony held Peter’s hand while Erin did her best to settle her nerves. Jessica walked onto the platform and addressed the crowd of press and reporters before introducing Erin.  
“I know it’s been a while since you all saw me last, and a lot has changed since I last stood in front of you, within the company and within my own life too. The first thing that needs to be said is that while it is true that I am taking a step back from the company for the time being, that doesn’t mean I am stepping down from my position of CEO, merely stepping down from the actual development.” Erin glanced over to Jessica, silently asking for reassurance from one of her closest friends.  
“As most of you know, I was in Afghanistan three months ago when an explosion led to the abduction of my good friend, Tony Stark. Now while I was not abducted, I didn’t get away without injury. The reason for my stepping back is to allow more time for physiotherapy and adjustment to the use of a prosthetic arm.” Erin heard multiple gasps around the room.

Erin took a moment to compose herself before continuing,  
“This development will not negatively impact the company, but rather has given myself and my colleague, Jessica Torres, planning time to expand and develop several departments. Starting this next Monday, the Military Medical Department will be expanded; there will be the introduction of a Prosthesis Development Department.” The conference continued for another 15 minutes with Erin answering a variety of questions before she concluded the conference and led Jessica back into the side room.

Erin let out a breath as soon as she was back with her family. Peter ran over and wrapped Erin in a tight hug, doing his best to comfort her. Erin clung to the 7-year-old as he reassured her that it would all be fine. Erin lifted Peter easily and followed Tony out of the building to where Happy and Richie were waiting with the cars to take the group back to the Malibu mansion.

Tony led Rhodey down to the lab to show him the basic schematics of the suit and explain what they’d been up to while Erin sat with Jessica and let Jessica fill her in on everything that had been happening within Walker Industries.  
“The basic idea that the nanotech can be adapted to allow for some form of touch is impossible, my engineers have been looking into it since you suggested it... You’ve done it, haven’t you?” Erin just grinned causing Jessica to roll her eyes,  
“When’ll you stop playing with the impossible?” Jessica laughed,  
“It’s not impossible if it can be done.” Came Rhodey’s voice, “honestly, you’ve known her since she was 11 and you still expect her to give up on toeing the line of possibility?” The group were all laughing as Pepper arrived with several bags of Chinese food,  
“Thought you could use a pick-me-up.” She said as she placed the bags on the table.

The days passed and Erin and Tony turned back to testing the suit parts, designing and testing each part separately before combining them. Tony had made Erin an arc reactor to power her suit that was currently held on a strap but would later be integrated in the suit’s chest piece when it was finished.  
“Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety.” He turned to address the robot, “if you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college.” Dum-E drooped his claw at the comment, letting out a couple of sad beeps that caused Erin to smile,  
“All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. And three, two, one.” Tony hovered for a few seconds before lowering back to the group and stumbling slightly, Dum-E followed him with the fire extinguisher,  
“Don’t follow me around with it either, cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down! If something happens, then come in.”  
“And again, let's bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one.” Tony flew around for a few moments, struggling to remain balanced as he drifted over the cars and then blew the paper off of his table. He landed after a few more moments.  
“Yeah. I can fly.” He grinned.

Erin leapt to her feet as Tony disconnected from the parts before helping Erin into her own parts. Tony double checked that all parts were secure before letting Erin step onto the test plate,  
“You’re gonna have trouble stabilizing at first, so gentle movements, nothing jagged or too fast.” Erin nodded and set everything up to 2.5% thrust capacity and lifted off the ground,  
“Lowering to 2.0% to account for weight differentiation between test participants.” Tony nodded and jotted down the update to make sure they took it into account later. Erin flew much easier with the update, but she did jolt a couple of times. Like Tony, Erin stumbled as she landed.

The pair hugged tightly, Tony lifted Erin off the ground as they did so.  
“I feel like Peter Pan. We can fly!” Tony just laughed at Erin’s comment, they were both overly excited by the concept of flight.  
“We need practice in order to stabilize better.” Tony offered,  
“And more consideration of weight differentiation between the two of us.” Erin muttered. The pair set to work in creating the rest of the suits. While Tony set the parts to formulate, Erin went online and let JARVIS put in Tony’s measurements and entered in her own as she ordered them both under-suits to wear inside the suits.

It was nearly three weeks later that the suits were fully formed and ready for the initial tests for the pair in the complete suit. They were both wearing the under-suits that Erin had brought them as machines fitted the metal suits around them,  
“JARVIS you with me?”  
“At your service, Sir.”  
“IRIS, you there?”  
“Always, Erin.” Tony and Erin looked at each other, both grinning inside their helmets,  
“Link comms.” The pair said and could finally hear each other.  
“JARVIS, engage Heads Up Display.”  
“IRIS, load the HUD.”  
“Import all preferences from home interface.” The pair said, before sharing a look through the internal cameras in the helmets that allowed them to see and hear each other constantly,  
“We're online and ready.” JARVIS and IRIS told them,  
“Can we start the virtual walk-around?”  
“Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment.” Tony told both the A.I.s,  
“Do a check on control surfaces.” Erin added,  
“As you wish.” JARVIS and IRIS responded.  
“Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.”  
“Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check.” Tony told them instead,  
“Start listening in on ground control.” Erin continued, picking up on Tony’s idea,  
“Sir, Ma’am, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is...”  
“JARVIS! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk.”  
“Ready?” Erin nodded in response,  
“In three, two, one.” The pair took off, heading out of the garage and into the night sky.

Erin whooped and cheered as the pair flew, the feeling was surreal as she flew in sync with Tony. Tony grinned at her through the camera,  
“Enjoying yourself Raven?”  
“Flies like a dream!” She exclaimed, doing a loop-the-loop as if to prove her point. Tony laughed at her antics.  
“All right, let's see what this thing can do.” Erin glanced at Tony, flying over to be next to him.  
“What's SR-71's record?” Tony asked JARVIS causing Erin to laugh.  
“The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir.”  
“Records are made to be broken! Come on!” Tony took off, climbing higher and higher while Erin climbed slowly below him, letting him have his bit of fun.  
“Sir, there is a potentially fatal build-up of ice occurring.” She heard JARVIS say, causing her to stop and hover at her current height.  
“Keep going! Higher!” Was the last thing she heard from Tony as the connection fell, her camera went blank and Tony disappeared from the comms as he began to fall.  
“Tony!” Erin yelled, flying up to catch him.  
“We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps! JARVIS! Come on, we got to break the ice!” Erin flew closer to Tony and caught him while he attempted to break the ice.

After a few moments, Tony reconnected to the joint HUD comms,  
“Moron.” Erin stated fondly, Tony grinned over to her as he went to land in front of his house while Erin flew back in via the garage. Erin watched from where the machines were disassembling her suit as Tony fell through the ceiling and landed on one of his cars, he grumbled a few times before getting up and allowing his suit to be disassembled just as Erin’s finished. The doctor headed over to the small medical area in the workshop and grabbed out a cold compress which she secured to Tony’s shoulder and passed hum another one for his head.  
“How come you landed properly?” Tony grumbled,  
“Because I’m dainty.” Erin laughed.

Tony led the pair over to his desk just as Peter came into the shop, still groggy with sleep.  
“What’re you doing up, Little Man?” Erin asked,  
“Got woken up. Looks like someone fell through the house.” Erin laughed at Tony’s guilty looking face as he scooped the boy up.  
“Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor.” Tony addressed JARVIS  
“A very astute observation, sir.” Came JARVIS’s reply, “perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems.”  
“Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals.” Erin told the AI,  
“Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio.” Tony finished as the AI pulled up specs, he sat down while holding Peter on his lap.  
“Shall I render using proposed specifications?”  
“ _Thrill me.” The pair turned their attention to the TV where a reporter was talking about some event,  
“Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark and Erin Walker's third annual collaborative benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society._” Erin and Tony shared a look before asking their AI’s if they’d received invites. Neither had. The pair watched the suits become golden as JARVIS finished the rendering. Erin couldn’t stop herself from cringing at the look,  
“Little ostentatious, don't you think?” Tony muttered, noticing Erin’s look,  
“What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet.” JARVIS sassed back,  
“Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there on mine.”  
“Yes, that should help you keep a low profile.” Erin smirked at JARIVS’s response,  
“Make Erin’s jet black for me.” Tony said, Erin smiled at that,  
“Add hot-rod red streaks over the shoulders to the centre of the back, Jay.”  
“Render complete.” JARVIS told them. The pair grinned at the sight of the suits.  
“They look cool.” Peter muttered sleepily.  
“I like, it. Fabricate it. Paint it.” Tony smiled at Erin,  
“Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours.”  
“Don't wait up for me, honey.” Tony offered Erin his arm while still holding Peter.

Leading them up into the living room, Tony still had a smirk on his face,  
“I’ll get Peter to bed, you get cleaned up and dressed nicely. We’ve got a party to crash.” Tony told her causing her to laugh as she headed towards her room.

After a quick shower, Erin transferred IRIS’s program into a necklace which she fastened carefully around her neck before slipping on a black velvet, backless evening gown with silver embroidery and a pair of silver sandal heels. Her hair was quickly straightened from the usual curls, and simple makeup quickly adorned her features before she headed to meet Tony in the living room.  
“Shall we.” He said, offering her his arm and leading her to the Mercedes that he’d pulled around front.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gala definitely isn't what Tony and Erin expect. New information comes to light, friends are remembered, and pasts are brought up. With dancing, awards, betrayal, and anger, it's fair to say that the lives of Tony and Erin are about to be unpended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has had a great response, thank you all so much for reading xx

The 38-minute drive to the party was filled with suggestions about how to improve the suits while also slipping into random, pointless conversations while Erin messed with her prosthetic to allow it to have a not-quite-natural appearance but still more natural than the bionic she had left it at since the press conference. The pair continued the pointless conversations until Tony pulled the car up in front of the red carpet.

Tony moved around to Erin’s side of the car after giving the keys to a valet, opening the door, and taking Erin’s arm in his while the crowd cheered for them. Erin clenched her hand around Tony’s arm just below his elbow, the crowds were the one part of her life that she’d never grown used to, no matter how much she was around them. Tony tightened his hold on her, letting Erin draw some comfort from his presence.

Tony led them over to where Obie was stood talking to several reporters,   
“What’s the world coming to when people have to crash their own party?”   
“Look at you. Hey, what a surprise.” Obie exclaimed in surprise.  
“I'll see you inside.” Tony said, dropping Erin’s arm to let his hand fall to be on the small of her back to guide her inside,  
“Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right?” Obie said, moving closer to Tony, “I think I got the board right where we want them.”  
“You got it. Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute.” Tony moved to lead Erin inside, rolling his eyes as the pair continued up the steps.

The pair shared a look, laughing slightly as they headed over to the bar,  
“Gimme a scotch, I’m starving.”  
“A dark rum, please.” Erin added and the bartender hurried off to get their drinks,  
“Promise me only one or two. You’ve gotta drive us home.” Tony nodded; he wouldn’t tell Erin that he was determined not to let her down right now.   
“Mr. Stark.” A voice beside the pair sounded, “Agent Coulson.”  
“Oh, yeah, the guy from the, uh.”  
“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.”  
“God, you need a new name for that.” Tony muttered.  
“Yeah, I hear that a lot. Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things. Let's just put something on the books. How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?” Tony nodded to the man.  
“Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right. Well, we’re going to go to my assistant, and we'll confirm the date and let you know.” Tony said, he offered his hand to Erin, but she was looking at Coulson.  
“Just gimme a sec. Go sort everything with Miss Potts, and I’ll be over for a dance.” Tony raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

Coulson turned to Erin,  
“Doctor Walker. Agent Barton would like me to say that he’ll happily take you up on the offer you made him when he left you in Sweden.” Erin chuckled at that, she had been hoping for Clint to phone her.  
“Take it he works with you?”  
“I’m his handler, yes.”  
“All he’s got to do is phone or text me, and I’ll get him sorted ASAP.”  
“I’ll let him know. He speaks very highly of you, and your work.” Erin let a smile cross her features at the comment, twisting her MIT class ring as she thought about those three months in the center in Sweden.  
“Well he was a good friend to me when I needed someone. He listened to me when everyone else was busy.” Coulson nodded to her, his expression didn’t let anything slip about how much Clint had told him about Erin. Erin noticed that he smiled slightly at the way Erin talked about Clint, she guessed that the pair were good friends, not just colleagues.   
“I’ll tell him to contact you as soon as he can. He’ll be glad to hear from you again, I’m sure.”   
“Well, it has been nearly four months since we left Sweden. I’ll be glad to hear from him. Let him know that I’ll fit him in as soon as he contacts me.” Erin and Coulson shook hands and said their goodbyes before parting ways. Erin watched as Coulson left the building before heading over to Tony.

Erin headed over to Tony, letting him finish talking to Pepper before moving to stand next to him.  
“Care to dance.” He whispered, offering a hand to Erin, the pair danced easily together,  
“I didn’t know you had a dress like that at mine.” Tony breathed, his eyes scanning Erin’s form cautiously, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. The silver of the dress caught the light, causing it to almost shimmer as Erin danced in Tony’s arms. Erin’s grip on Tony’s shoulder tightened the slightest amount as she watched him. Tony let his hand on her hip stay loose as they danced, shifting together in sync.   
“Brought it last time we were late for a gala because we got caught up in work.” Tony laughed at that, it was a regular occurrence that seemed to drive Pepper and Richie mad.

Tony gripped Erin’s and gently as he led her in the dance, brown eyes locked on green and neither were willing to let anyone distract them. Tony let his hand tighten ever so slightly around Erin’s hand, keeping ahold of it securely but gently.  
“So you know Agent Coulson?”   
“I know someone he works with.” Tony raised an eyebrow, it wasn’t like him and Erin not to share things like this, they usually knew practically everything that was happening in the other’s life (often better than they knew their own lives).  
“This wouldn’t be that uncle I never get to meet.”  
“He would skin you.” Erin laughed as she thought about her godfather who’d become her uncle over the years.   
“Let’s get a drink.” She muttered as the song ended.

Unbeknownst to the dancing pair, Pepper watched them with a pang of jealousy in her heart, from the moment she’d become Tony’s PA, she’d known Erin, but the two women didn’t always see eye to eye. Pepper often thought that Erin and Tony were no good together, leading each other into 72-hour work binges without any breaks, only stopping when the robots gave them food or water. Pepper couldn’t deny the fact that she had enjoyed those few months before Tony was kidnapped when Erin was away and the pair only ever spoke over Facetime or phone call, she hated the fact that Erin seemed to have moved in with Tony.

Tony led Erin back over to the bar where the pair ordered another drink only to be disturbed again, this time by a reporter.  
“Tony Stark,” Tony glanced to Erin to see her wearing a shit-eating grin,  
“Oh, hey. Fancy seeing you here.” Tony said as he turned to the reporter.  
“Carrie.”  
“Christine.”  
“She’s Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine.” The reporter nodded,  
“That's right.”  
“You did a piece on one of my colleagues, Jessica Torres, last year. She spoke very highly of you.” Christine nodded to Erin while Tony looked over, slightly baffled,  
“Remember when Jess did the research into a brace to bypass injury-caused paralysis? The brace acted at the nervous system in the spine to allow basic control over the paralysed area.” Tony nodded,  
“She got a Lasker Award for it right?” Erin smiled as she remembered Jessica getting the award, her friend had been so shocked, but Erin was constantly telling her that she deserved it.  
“Yeah. That’s what prompted the article.” Christine nodded but kept silent,  
“She was very flattered by the article. It takes a lot to flatter Jessie to the point that she’s speechless.”

The reporter smiled and thanked Erin for the compliment before turning back to Tony.  
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?”  
“Panic. I would say panic is my reaction.” That was all Erin needed to hear to know that Tony had hooked up with Christine at some point.  
“I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity.” She said, her tone serious enough that Erin tensed.  
“Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you. They put Erin’s name on too.”  
“I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker.”  
“I was out of town for a couple months in case you didn't hear.” Tony commented defensively, Erin sighed silently when she noticed Tony putting his walls back up.  
“Is this what you call accountability?” She passed Tony a stack of pictures which he and Erin flicked through,  
“It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?” Tony glanced up at the name but didn’t speak  
“When were these taken?” Erin asked for him,  
“Yesterday.”  
“I didn't approve any shipment.” Tony growled,   
“Well, your company did.” Christine shot back,  
“Well, I'm not my company.” Tony snapped before taking Erin’s hand and leading her outside, the stack of photos held in his other hand.

Erin squeezed Tony’s hand tightly as he led her out of the building, doing her best to silently reassure and comfort him. Tony didn’t need to speak in order for Erin to realize that the town in the photographs had some relevance to Tony. She knew that he was determined to stop the distribution of his weapons, but the anger in his eyes when he heard the name of the town was almost unfitting unless he knew the town for some reason. Tony’s had trembled in Erin’s as she moved closer to his side, letting him know that she was there for him before anyone else.

Tony headed over to Obadiah in a rage, Erin kept his hand in hers as a comfort, letting him ground himself using her. Obi looked over the photos with a blank expression while reporters were trying to get pictures of him stood between Erin and Tony. The blank, emotionless expression on his features left Erin furious; even when he was shown the suffering of innocent people, Obadiah still denied the fact that it was wrong.   
“Have you seen these pictures?” Tony growled, “What's going on in Gulmira?”   
“Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive.” Obie stated, but he didn’t sound anywhere near sincere. He stepped between the pair, trying to separate them while Erin tried to move closer to Tony.  
“You know what? I was naive before when they said, "Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business." If we're double-dealing under the table... Are we?” Tony glanced at Erin as he stepped up a few steps in order to prevent Obadiah from walking away. Tony hadn’t wanted to believe that she was right about Obie, but it seemed to be that way. A couple of reporters kept asking the two CEOs for pictures.  
“Let's take a picture.” Obadiah stopped, turning to face the reporters as he stood between Tony and Erin.   
“Come on. Picture time!” Obie said, wrapping an arm around Tony’s shoulders and an arm around Erin’s waist. Erin tensed at Obadiah’s touch, he’d always given her the creeps, he had a way of almost undressing a person with his eyes, it always left Erin feeling exposed around him.   
“Tony. Who do you think locked you out?” Obie muttered in Tony’s ear once the press had taken their picture.  
“I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you.” Obie stated before walking away and leaving the pair on the stairs.

The car ride back the Tony’s house was silent, both trying to comprehend what Obie had said,   
“We finish the suits tomorrow. Peter’s going to May’s, isn’t he?”  
“Yeah, 7 o’clock.” Tony nodded, his hands were tight on the steering wheel, leaving his knuckles white. Erin placed her hand over his, feeling it release some tension under her hand.  
“We’ll fix this. That’s why we’re building the suits.” Tony nodded, but he didn’t relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice any errors, please let me know so I can correct them xx


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With files not giving the correct information and terrorists having weapons, its not surprising that Tony and Erin end up in Afghanistan. At least, it's not surprising to Rhodey. He has been putting up with them for years, after all.

Erin and Tony quickly changed out of their outfits and into comfier clothes before heading down into the workshop. Tony set JARVIS scanning all the files on the Stark Industries’ shipment data, checking for any anomalies in the delivery information. The pair checked over the ones that JARVIS picked up on, only to identify that the shipping addresses either didn’t exist or were for unauthorized addresses that had no business buying weaponry from Stark Industries. Tony grabbed out his phone and quickly called Rhodey.  
“Hey pal, it’s me. Any chance you can go over some info with us. We need a fresh pair of eyes.” Erin didn’t need to hear Rhodey’s response to know that he was on his way over.

By the time Rhodey arrived, it was nearly 1AM, Tony and Erin doubted that they would get much sleep considering that Peter was going to be on a plane to New York in just over 6 hours’ time.  
“What’d you need me to look at?” Rhodey called as he entered the workshop,  
“Any chance that you can see a trend that we’re missing in these?” Erin pointed to the anomalous shipping details.  
“No similar addresses except for three going to the same place five weeks apart. No consistent authorization for them except for the fact that you didn’t sign them, Tones. I take it you’d already got that?” The pair nodded before both collapsing onto the couch in annoyance,  
“What’re we missing?” Tony muttered, he was desperate to put right the horrors caused by his company, but he didn’t want to admit to himself that it looked like Obadiah was the one behind the dirty dealings of the weapons.

At 6:15, Erin, Peter, and Tony found themselves in the back of the car as Happy drove them to the airport. Erin’s private plane would take Peter to the John F. Kennedy airport in Queens where May and Ben would meet him before taking him with them for the week. The 7-year-old was talking excitedly about everything he was looking forward to doing while he was with them, Erin and Tony temporarily forgot what had left them so angry the night before as they listened to Peter chatter on and on throughout the entire ride to the airport.

By 9:00, the pair were back down in the workshop with the TV on making the final adjustments to their suits. This time, they were the final tweaks before the pair trusted the suits to be able to complete the mission that they were about to head out on.   
“ _The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern-day Heart of Darkness. Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings_.” Tony stood up as he finished fixing his glove, looking at himself with disgust in the glass.

Erin had curled up on the couch with her gauntlet in her hand as she made her own improvements. The TV report continued,  
“ _As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia...”_ Erin startled as Tony shot the repulsor at the glass, shattering it, _  
_“ _Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?" There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help._ ” Erin turned to Tony as the report ended, both sharing a nod as they headed to their own suit bays and the suit assembly began around them, the black and red suit fixing against Erin and the bright red and gold suit fixing against Tony.

As soon as the suits were assembled, the pair took off in flight, destination: Afghanistan. The best friends flew silently side by side in relative comfort for the most part thanks to the internal stabilizers, outside noise was mostly blocked as well.   
“How’s the reactor, Tones?” Erin asked after nearly 3 hours. She hadn’t tried to hide her concern about the fact that the suit was connected directly to the reactor in Tony’s chest.  
“Fine. Don’t worry, no unusual pain.” Erin nodded, glancing at the camera, and realizing that he was telling the truth,  
“Let me know if it begins to hurt at all. I wanna know about the slightest of pain.” Tony nodded this time. The pair fell back into their determined silence until Tony pointed over to a small town that appeared to have been decimated.  
“Ready?” Tony asked, his eyes watching Erin through the joint HUD comm, a range of emotions washed over her features; fear, pain, sorrow, anger, and sheer determination.  
“Let’s make ‘em pay.” Erin growled, she may be a doctor, but that meant her job was to save lives. She needed to stop these people in order to do that.

The pair landed just in time to see a group of men kicking a man curled up on the ground in front of a group of terrified villagers. Tony and Erin instantly began stopping the terrorists, using the repulsors to kill the first few before Tony let the shoulder guns take out the rest of the terrorists in the main square without harming any civilians. A young boy ran over to the man who had been being kicked by the terrorists, Tony could only assume that they were father and son, but he couldn’t understand anything that they were saying.

While Tony had been doing this, Erin had followed one of the terrorists, the ringleader, as he entered one of the houses. Stopping outside, Erin’s eyes darkened as she stood in silence facing the house.  
“IRIS, give me a heat scan. Find the bastard.” IRIS scanned and found the man, Erin grinned menacingly as she punched through the wall, wrapped her arm around the man’s throat, yanked him back through the wall, and threw him on the ground in front of the civilians.  
“He’s all yours.” Tony stated as he and Erin flew off, heading to their next target.

The pair caught sight of the camp near where Tony had been held captive, they instantly began destroying any weapons they saw. A tank opened fire on them only for Tony to shoot a bomb at it before he and Erin took off in flight.

It was probably wishful thinking to hope that they could make it back undetected. After not even ten minutes of flying, Tony’s phone began ringing,  
“Hello?”  
“Tony?”  
“Who's this?” Tony could barely hear anything due to the outside noise that the suit was letting in thanks to the damage.  
“It's Rhodes.”  
“Sorry, hello?”  
“I said it's Rhodes.”  
“Speak up, please.” At that moment, Erin linked herself into the call,  
“What in the hell is that noise?”  
“Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down.”  
“Yeah, well, I need your help right now.”  
“Uh huh, funny that you need it right now Rodeo.” Erin muttered,  
“Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive, Tones.”  
“Well, that's a hot spot.” Tony commented, “sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?”   
“Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?”  
“I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon.”  
“So this has nothing to do with those suits you were building?” Erin and Tony glanced over to each other in the camera,  
“Nope. Nothing.” Erin said.  
“Sure. You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?” Rhodey asked, clearly not believing his friends.  
“Nope!”  
“Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at two right now, and they’re about to be blown to kingdom come.”  
“That's my exit.” Tony exclaimed before hanging up.

The pair darted to the side trying to escape the two FR-22s that flew up behind them, Tony and Erin shared a glance before speeding up and taking off ahead of the two planes. They didn’t get far ahead,  
“You have been engaged.” JARVIS and IRIS said to their controllers, Erin and Tony began maneuvering in an attempt to avoid the oncoming fire from the planes. Both began to spiral in an attempt to avoid the bullets, but they got hit repeatedly,  
“Deploy flaps!” Tony and Erin yelled in sync, dropping under the two planes and both latching onto different ones. They took several moments to catch their breath as they shared a look in the camera, both silently agreeing on what to do next.

Tony called Rhodey back, determined to try and get his brother to call off the attack,  
“Hi, Rhodey, it's us.” Tony muttered out of breath as he clung onto the plane to try and recover.  
“It's who?” Came Rhodey’s voice over the joint comms,  
“I'm sorry, it is us. You asked. What you were asking about is us.” Tony explained vaguely.  
“No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?” Rhodey scolded them as if they were children.  
“They’re not a piece of equipment.” Erin shot back, arguably she was in a better condition than Tony.  
“We’re in them. They’re the suits! It's us!” Tony yelled, desperate for Rhodey to figure out.

At that moment, the plane Tony was clinging to rolled to the side, revealing Tony to the second plane. The one Tony was holding onto began barrel rolling in order to dislodge Tony, he was thrown backwards causing him to crash into the wing of the plane Erin was under. Tony began dodging the first plane while Erin set about trying to hold up the second plane and gently lower it to the ground. As soon as the pilot had ejected from the plane, Erin let the shell drop, turning her attention to watch for a parachute. Not seeing one, both Erin and Tony dropped in a descent in an attempt to catch the pilot. Tony was able to rip the chute open, allowing the pilot to drop the rest of the way safely while the pair returned their attention to dodging the other plane.

After several long moments, the pair were able to get away from the second plane,  
“Tony, Erin, you still there?” Rhodey’s panicked voice asked,  
“Hey, thanks.” Tony grinned,  
“We’re doing better now!” Erin laughed,  
“You owe me a new plane.” Rhodey commented causing all three of them to laugh,  
“Well, technically, he hit me.” Tony pointed out,  
“How am I supposed to sell this to the press?” Rhodey asked them,  
“Tell them that crap about a training exercise.” Erin said with a hint of laughter in her voice. Tony ended the call at that moment allowing the pair to return to Malibu without much of an issue.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blossoming friendship grows stronger when Erin finally gets a text from Clint, though things never seem to work for Erin for long. Laughter, friendship, hurt, and heartbreak all take up a day in the life of Erin Walker.

Arriving back at the mansion, Erin was easily removed from her armor thanks to the less damage compared to Tony’s. That meant that Erin was sat watching and laughing as Tony balanced precariously as the machines attempted to remove the armor. The damage left on some of the parts meant that they were jammed together, while some of the suit came off easily, most of it had locked together. Erin took notes on the main areas of weakness that had been apparent on both as Tony continued to fuss and complain in the machinery. Erin glanced away from her notebook where she made all of her observations, looking at her phone as a text came through,  
‘From: Unknown  
Hi Doc, it’s Clint Barton. Wondering if I could take you up on your offer. Coulson said you wouldn’t mind’

Erin grinned at her phone and quickly set up a contact,  
‘To: Copernicus  
How urgent. I can have you in tomorrow afternoon at the Hub in Malibu. Appointment under the name of Copernicus.’  
‘From: Copernicus  
Works for me.’

Erin sent a couple of text to her people before smirking at Tony still struggling in the armor,  
“Hey, I won’t be here tomorrow. I’ve got work.” Tony raised an eyebrow and stopped arguing with the robots.  
“Aren’t you still on medical leave?”  
“It’s one of the exceptions. Someone I promised to help out.” Tony nodded, but he still didn’t look convinced,  
“Pete’s not back until Sunday, so we’re still good. Plus, I’ve made notes on the areas of the suits that proved to be a weakness on both, so you can fix them tomorrow while I’m out, if you want.”

Tony turned his attention back to the robots,  
“Hey!” Tony exclaimed,  
“It is a tight fit, sir.” Erin couldn’t stop herself from laughing as Tony continued to complain. She put her notebook back on her desk as she sorted out the things she would need for tomorrow.   
“Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt.”  
“Be gentle. This is my first time. I designed this to come off, so...” Tony continued to complain.  
“Please, try not to move, sir.” JARVIS said bluntly,  
“What's going on here?” Came Pepper’s voice from the doorway causing the robots, Tony, and Erin all to freeze and slowly turn to look over to the new arrival.  
“Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught us doing.” Tony commented causing Erin to laugh as she stood up.  
“Are those bullet holes?” Pepper asked weakly, fear evident in her voice.  
“Technically it wasn’t our fault.” Erin commented as she headed upstairs to arrange for Richie to come over and collect her tomorrow from where he had been looking after Erin’s cat while she was staying with Tony. In truth, Richie looked after the animal more than Erin, it lived with him thanks to Peter being terrified of the small thing, but that didn’t stop Erin calling the little creature her cat.

Settling on her bed, Erin grabbed out her phone taking a moment before calling Richie,  
“Hey Boss.”   
“Hey buddy. I need you to come get me from Tony’s tomorrow at 10:00AM, I’ve got a job at the Hub that I need to see to.”  
“Aren’t you still on med leave?” She rolled her eyes at Richie’s reaction, apparently everyone in her life was determined to reminder her about the medical leave.   
“Aren’t there some jobs I’m still allowed to do?” She heard Richie laugh on the other end of the line,  
“I’ll be there at 10. What time’ll you be done?”  
“When I finish.”   
“Good timings.” Erin just laughed before ending the call.

She headed back out into the living room where Tony and Pepper were still debating Tony’s recklessness. Erin dropped onto the couch next to Tony, curling slightly into his side as Tony subconsciously wrapped an arm around her,  
“How’s Richie?”  
“Fine. He’ll be here at ten tomorrow so IRIS? Set an alarm.” Erin’s watch lit up to let her know that AI had done as she was asked. Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony changing the topic.  
“Tomorrow, I’ll set about repairing as much as I can. You have fun on your outing. Can I steal your notebook?” Tony muttered against Erin as the woman’s eyes began to droop. Erin nodded sleepily, deciding that she was too tired to speak.

The pair didn’t stop for too long though, they had work to do. While they knew that Obadiah was involved in the dealings to the terrorists, they couldn’t rule out anyone else of involvement. That meant that Tony and Erin were left sitting in the lab next to the workshop with all their computers searching the shipping logs for anything out of the ordinary to see how many more weapons were recently distributed to terrorists or just dealt under the table. It left the pair working until nearly 2AM, meaning that they were both exhausted.

When Erin was awoken at nine the next morning, she felt like she hadn’t had any sleep despite the fact that she’d had almost 7 hours of sleep, at least 4 hours more than she usually got. She blearily made her way to the kitchen and downed 2 cups of coffee before fully registering what she was doing, waking her up enough to get a shower, attach her arm, and sort herself for her first day of actual work in over 7 months. Richie arrived at 10 o’clock precisely and just smirked as Erin left the house in a ripped AC/DC top with black jeans and blue Converse sneakers,  
“You good there, Boss?”  
“Shut up.” Erin grumbled playfully as she settled on the backseat.

Erin had been in her lab for about an hour before an intern showed up with Clint behind her,  
“Ma’am, your 1 o’clock client is here.”   
“Thanks Louisa.” The intern left just as quickly as she arrived, leaving Erin and Clint alone.  
“You comin’ in or are you gonna remain a gargoyle?” Erin asked with a grin. Clint laughed and headed over to the desk.  
“Take it the offer you were on about was the hearing aid replacement.” Clint nodded,  
“My normal ones are fucked but the spares aren’t the best.” Erin just hummed as she set a box down on the table between them. Clint raised an eyebrow before opening the box to reveal tiny hearing aids that looked smaller than the cotton bud on a Q-tip.  
“They’ve been found to give just about perfect hearing. Small size means that they’re less likely to be damaged, they also have a good hold once inside the ear canal but can easily be removed by the owner.” Clint just nodded,  
“May I?”   
“I designed them for you so, yeah sure.”

Clint took out his current hearing aids and placed the new ones in, taking his time to make sure that they were correct in his ear.   
“How’s the sound?” Clint jumped slightly at Erin’s voice, causing her to smile,  
“I’ll take that as a good sign.” She said at the same volume, but it sounded slightly quieter to Clint,  
“They also adapt to suit the comfort of the wearer, moderates the sound so that nothing is too loud.” Clint’s eyes widened in surprise at Erin’s words.   
“Thanks, Palto.”  
“Palto? Think you mean Plato.”  
“That’s the guy!” Clint exclaimed,  
“Wasn’t he the one who said that ‘courage is knowing what to fear’?”  
“Nah, I mean, he could’ve but I was thinking of the whole ‘behold a man’ thing.” Erin laughed at that,  
“You know, Plato offered the theory that man was a featherless biped, but Diogenes was the bastard who plucked a chicken and did the whole ‘behold a man’ schtick.”  
“Philosophy with Erin.” Clint muttered causing Erin to laugh.

Erin set about checking the hearing aids, making note of how Clint adjusted to the noises before asking him a range of questions and editing the hearing aids on the computer. She gently turned Clint’s head in order to make sure that the aids were sat correctly before sitting back in her chair, confident in the fact that everything was working correctly. She disengaged the computer’s influence over the hearing aids and let them fall to responding to Clint. The pair remained chatting comfortably, about philosophy mostly, throughout Erin’s tests,  
“Everything’s set for you. I’ll want you back in for a check-up in three months just to make sure that there aren’t any issues developing. There shouldn’t be, but with your line of work…”  
“It’s a very real possibility.” Clint finished, Erin nodded before speaking up again,  
“Obviously, if you notice any issues in the meantime: too loud, too quiet, aches where you’re wearing them, damage to the aids. Let me know as soon as you notice and I’ll get you in for replacements or repairs, depending on the level of damage.” Clint nodded silently as he placed his old hearing aids in their box.   
“Wanna grab a coffee?” He offered, “catch up on what you’ve been doing for the last four months?” Erin nodded,  
“You know, my bodyguard will have to join us.”   
“Works for me.”

Clint led Erin to a small café not too far from the Hub, ordering them drinks while Erin settled at a table, Richie wasn’t too far away but agreed to let the pair have their space.  
“So, where’s Pete?” Clint asked,  
“With his aunt and uncle for the weekend. She lives in Queens, but Pete goes every couple week to see her and his uncle. I met your handler about a week ago.”  
“Yeah, he mentioned it. Phil’s a good friend, keeps me on my toes.”  
“In the Strategic-”  
“Yeah ok, just call it S.H.I.E.L.D.” Clint laughed.  
“You got any family, Clint? You know I’ve got Pete; you also know that I consider Rhodey, Tony, Pepper, Happy, Jess, and Richie family. But you never mentioned any family back in Sweden.”  
“It’s complicated.” Clint said after a moment, he clearly had more to say but clearly didn’t want to say it.  
“Ah.” Erin decided to leave that conversation there, not wanting to risk the beginnings of a friendship on an insensitive conversation.  
“I saw you were at that gala with Tony Stark. There anything there?” Clint grinned, it felt like they were two people that had been friends for years,  
“No! He’s my best friend, he’s the only one who can keep up with me going at full speed.” Clint just hummed, grinning widely at Erin.   
“Look, no, there’s nothing.” Clint just chuckled at Erin. He didn’t like the way Tony Stark acted in front of the media, but it was obvious that Erin knew the real Tony Stark, so Clint wasn’t going to press her on her friendship with him.   
“We should do this more often.” Erin said suddenly.  
“Every Saturday.” Clint added, Erin just laughed until her phone rang.

Erin glanced at her phone with a raised eyebrow, fear encompassing her chest when she saw who was calling,  
“It’s Pete’s aunt.” Clint nodded as Erin answered the phone,  
“May? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”  
“ _Erin? Pete… Peter and Ben were out when there was a robbery or something… Erin, Ben’s dead._ ” Erin’s mouth fell open as tears filled her eyes. Richie made his way over to the table while Clint gripped Erin’s hand.  
“May, I’m so sorry. May, what about Pete?”  
“ _He’s just frightened, he hasn’t stopped crying for you_.”  
“Tell him I’m on my way.” Tears slid down Erin’s cheeks as she silently sobbed, she felt like someone had stuck a knife in her heart and twisted it.   
“ _He’s already on your jet home. Pepper was meant to tell you earlier._ ”  
“Thank you May. Call me if you need anything, no matter how small.” May ended the call after that as Clint and Richie led Erin to the car, trying their best not to cause a scene.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, the worst thing that happens doesn't just affect those closest, it affects everyone around them. When Peter comes home, Erin finds old memories being dragged to the surface, Pepper finds that her annoyance at Erin runs deeper than she thought, and nightmares don't care how much sleep a 7-year-old needs.

The airfield had been cleared by Rhodey meaning that the jet was the only thing going to be landing. Erin was shaking as the jet landed on the runway and came to a stop in front of Erin, Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Richie, and Happy. The stairs lowered to reveal Jessica holding the sleeping boy.  
“He cried himself to sleep as we were flying over Indiana. Slept the rest of the way.” Jessica whispered as she passed Erin her son. Erin held Peter tightly in her arms as she cried, Ben had been a good friend to her since she’d adopted Peter, he’d been a fantastic uncle to Peter and the best father figure that the boy had ever really had.

The rest of the day was spent with Peter, trying to comfort the boy in whatever ways they could which ended with Aladdin on the flatscreen and a large box of popcorn that Peter seemed to have curled around with his head on Erin’s lap as her fingers brushed through his hair. Every now and then, a sob would escape Peter’s lips, each time Erin would squeeze his hand softly in order to comfort him. Each time Peter dozed off, he would flinch awake moments later thanks to nightmares about Ben dying.  
“Ma?” Erin hummed as she looked at Peter, “are you gonna leave me too?” Peter whispered as he sobbed.  
“No, baby, no. I would never leave you.” Erin said as she pulled Peter into her arms, letting him hug her tightly as he curled up in her lap,  
“Pete, you’ve got me, May, Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Jessie, Happy, Richie. You’ve got all of us, those people that killed Uncle Ben are gonna be caught, ok, they’ll be found, and they won’t be able to hurt anyone else.

Peter nodded but didn’t speak, choosing instead to curl further into Erin’s hold and squeeze himself between Erin and Tony. After a moment, Peter looked up at Erin,  
“But what if they don’t catch ‘em? What if they get away like the people that hurt your family?” Erin tensed silently,  
“Peter listen to me. I will do everything I can to make sure that the people who killed Uncle Ben are caught and brought to justice. I will make sure that no one else can suffer at their hands.” Peter nodded, silently cuddling between Erin and Tony. Before long, the boy finally fell asleep thanks to the exhaustion of being up for nearly 36 hours.

After she settled Peter into his bed, Erin headed into her room in order to call Clint.  
“What’s up Palto? How’s Pete?” He asked, the sound of a door closing told Erin that Clint was alone.  
“Scared. He thinks I’m gonna leave him, or that the bastards that did this are gonna get away with it. He thinks that he’s gonna be left with no one.”  
“Poor kid.” Clint muttered, “how’re you holding up?”  
“I’m fine… I’m doing the best I can. I’ve got Tony, Rhodey, Pep, and a couple of others here who’re all helping out. But it still doesn’t make it any easier.”  
“If it makes it any better, Coulson and I are looking into it, off the records, of course.”  
“Of course.” Erin smiled at the idea of Clint and Coulson helping out despite the fact that Coulson had only met her once.  
“I can’t guarantee that they’ll stand trial if we’re the ones that find ‘em.” Clint told her softly, in truth, Erin expected that. The sound of high-pitched screaming ricocheted through the phone,  
“Are you at work?” Erin asked, suddenly panicking thanks to the scream that sounded remarkably close to Clint,  
“Something like that.” His voice was filled with a worry that set Erin on edge.  
“I’ll let you get back to it. I’ll keep you updated.”  
“Thanks, Palto.”  
“It’s Plato!” Erin corrected, she heard Clint laughing as he ended the call.

Rejoining her friends, she collapsed onto the couch between Rhodey and Tony, curling up between them.  
“He’s asleep.” She whispered, exhaustion reaching her as she considered everything Peter was going through.  
“We should all get some sleep or head home. I have no doubt that Peter will be up soon.” Rhodey muttered, the group all murmured their responses with Richie and Happy standing. Jessie and Rhodey followed the two bodyguards out of the mansion, leaving Tony, Erin, and Pepper stood in the doorway.  
“It’s getting late, Pep, you don’t have to stay.” Tony said gently, hugging Erin to his side.  
“We’ll be fine.” Tony assured her, that was all the encouragement Pepper needed to leave the pair for the rest of the night. Pepper watched Tony guide Erin back into the house before closing the door, leaving her stood by her car in the darkness, the only light being from the house.

Tony watched Erin head to her room silently, he desperately wanted to keep her company, he knew that tonight would be a rough night for her but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Instead, he decided to let her get some sleep and let her seek him out of her own accord. Erin curled up in her bed, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to fend off the onslaught of memories that ripped through her mind.

_Erin and Tony were sat in the dorms, helping Rhodey revise for his upcoming exam, it was fair to say that Rhodey was the only one stressed out, but that didn’t stop Erin from her constant reassurances that everything would be fine. The TV had been telling them the news quietly in the background, but none of them had been listening to it. Rhodey’s eyes widened as he looked at the screen before telling Dum-E to turn it up.  
“The farmhouse exploded in the early hours of the morning, it is believed that the building and surrounding lands were the property of Mr. Fredrick Walker, the father of the young genius, Erin Walker. It is still unknown as to who was inside the farmhouse at the time, what is known is that there will be no survivors.” Erin let out a broken sob as she watched. The head of house for their dorm block knocked on the door,  
“Erin. I take it that you’ve heard?” Erin nodded, sobbing,  
“Your godfather is here to collect you.” Rhodey and Tony walked Erin down to the Campus main entrance, Erin didn’t need telling which car was her godfather’s, instead she silently climbed into the black SUV, leaving Rhodey and Tony stood on the sidewalk._

Erin’s eyes snapped open, her pillow wet from her tears. She glanced over to the door only to see Peter stood with tears streaking his cheeks. Erin held her arm out, lifting the duvet, Peter ran over, cuddling next to Erin as he closed his eyes, hugging into her warmth as he tried to go back to sleep. Erin wasn’t far behind him.

_Her dad, her mother, her step-father, her four older half-brothers, her two older step-brothers, her three half-sisters, her step-sister, her younger half-brother, her two sisters-in-law, her new-born nephew… all of them killed thanks to a bomb planted in the house by an enemy of her father.  
“Why them?” Erin whispered weakly as she stood next to her godfather,  
“I don’t know.”  
“Why don’t you know, Nick?! You know everything about everyone! You and Peggy always have! Why them?!” Erin yelled, punching her godfather’s chest pathetically, there was no force, just a 14-year-old girl with a broken heart who just wanted to know.  
“Last week, dad took me, Rhodey, and Tony to Live Aid, we were laughing about going to concerts again.” Erin muttered as she cried.  
“It’ll be ok.” Erin glared at Nick, she couldn’t understand how everything could be ok when her home and family were dead._

Peter woke up securely in Erin’s hold, her hand rubbing circles in his back as she hummed quietly, one of the bands she liked was playing quietly (Peter thought they were called Big County, but he wasn’t sure),  
“Hey baby.” Erin whispered when she realized that Peter was awake,  
“Hi Ma.”  
“Want some breakfast?” Peter nodded against Erin’s shoulder; she took Peter’s hand before leading him from the room.

Tony seemed to be waiting for them in the kitchen, preparing some breakfast for them before they headed down to the workshop, Tony decided to load up a project and he and Peter had been working on over the past few months. Erin headed into her lab, setting to work on perfecting the nanotech before deciding to call it quits for the day and continue the repairs that Tony had been doing to the suits the day before. They were mostly done, but a couple of areas still needed fixing up. The hours slipped by as the trio worked on their projects, none of them noticed how much time had passed until Erin’s phone rang.  
“May? What’s wrong?”  
“They’ve been caught!” She exclaimed, she sounded relieved, Erin couldn’t help herself from smiling as she looked over to Peter working with Tony.  
“Good.” Erin whispered,  
“How’s Peter?”  
“He’s doing better today. He’s working on something with Tony, he’s not crying, which is a good thing, but I might book him some counselling if he shows any issues.” Erin explained as she turned away from Tony and Peter,  
“They’ve been caught already?!” Erin asked suddenly, her eyebrows knitting in confusion,  
“Yeah. Apparently, when Walker Industries and Stark Industries both fund the search, government agencies get involved very quickly.” May laughed wetly at that, “I guess I should say thank you.”  
“You still lost Ben, May, so don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything to help.” Erin whispered,  
“You protect Peter.” May said before hanging up,  
“Some protection.” Erin muttered as she watched Peter. Dum-E chirped beside her, it sounded as if the robot was disagreeing with her self-doubt.

Night quickly fell, the only thing that alerted the trio to the time was Peter’s stomach rumbling thanks to not eating anything since breakfast. The trio sat down for a stir fry that Pepper had made and frozen a couple of days ago. They ate in relative silence with the exception of some small conversation.

Once they’d eaten, Peter headed up to his room to play for a bit before bed while Tony and Erin went back into the workshop. They were looking through the files and coming up empty once more when Pepper came down, the broken glass was now swept up thanks to the risk of Peter running down barefoot.  
“Hey. You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand?” Pepper came over, stopping in front of the desk that Tony sat behind.  
“I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. Erin and I can’t do it; I’m locked out and Erin has no reason to be in my office without me. You’re the only one that no one will suspect.” He held up a USB drive, “this is a lock chip. This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files.”  
“If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading.” Erin finished from where she sat on the couch.  
“And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?” Pepper asked incredulously,  
“Same drill.” Tony explained, “they've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them.” Pepper took a breath,  
“Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again.” Erin and Tony shared a look before Tony turned to look at Pepper,  
“There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else.”  
“Is that so?” Pepper said as if speaking to a child, “well, then, I quit.”  
“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?” Tony asked, the hurt was evident in his voice. Erin stood up and made her way over to the pair.  
“You're going to kill yourself, Tony. She’s going to kill you.” Tony raised an eyebrow,  
“Erin has never once done anything to risk my safety. She would never see me harmed.” Tony practically growled until Erin stopped at his side. Tony took a breath before speaking again, doing his best to compose himself.  
“I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right.” Pepper took the drive after a moment, not saying anything as she turned and left the workshop, leaving Erin and Tony tense.

Tony and Erin shared a look as Pepper left, neither of them were particularly good at playing the waiting game, they never had been. Now they had no choice but to wait until Pepper returned. They needed to know the trend in the shipments, they needed to know if there was a trend or if the sales were random. They also wanted to know if there was anyone within the company that was responsible or involved in Tony’s kidnapping.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is realized. Friends betray friends. Others stand together no matter what. It's time for Tony and Erin to stand together against a foe who presented themselves as a friend

Pepper made it to Tony’s office without anyone giving her any unusual looks, she couldn’t stop herself from being annoyed at Tony and Erin, but they were right, neither of them would’ve been able to make it to the office. Granted, she had barely seen anyone, but that didn’t matter.

Her hands shook as she pushed the device into the computer, letting it hack into the servers to find the files and begin downloading files. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the file labeled ‘Sector 16’,  
“What’re you up to Obadiah?” She muttered, clicking on a video file, she couldn’t help but let her curiosity get the better of her.

The video began, showing Tony tied to a chair, the men around him were speaking a language that Pepper didn’t understand. Quickly translating it, Pepper turned her attention to the video,  
“ _You did not tell us that the target that you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly._ ” Pepper’s eyes widened in horror. Obadiah had been the one who paid to have Tony killed! The video continued despite Pepper’s horror,  
“ _The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up._ ”

As the video ended, Pepper closed the file and continued the download.  
“So,” the voice in the doorway caused Pepper to flinch in shock, her eyes landing on Obadiah as she looked up, “what’re we gonna do about this?” Pepper slowly moved the cursor to press to load the screen saver, hiding everything she was doing as the download completed. She moved a newspaper on the desk to hide the devise in the computer.  
“I know what you’re going through, Pepper,” He said as he began pouring himself a whiskey, “Tony, he always gets the good stuff.”

Pepper tensed as Obadiah moved to stand behind her, his eyes on the computer screen, full of suspicion at the fact that it was just showing the slideshow of cars that Tony had as his screensaver.  
“I was so happy,” Obadiah began, right behind Pepper, “when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead.” The man moved to sit on the desk, looking directly at Pepper, almost as if he were forcing her to look at him,  
“Now I realize, well, Tony never did come home, did he? Neither did Erin.” Pepper tensed at the mention of the woman who she had accused of going to kill Tony,   
“They left part of themselves back in Afghanistan. Erin much more literally, of course,” He rubbed his shoulder as if indicating the part of Erin left behind.  
“Tony left part of himself in that cave. It breaks my heart.” Pepper resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Obadiah’s faked remorse,  
“Well, they’re complicated people.” Pepper said with a smile, “they’ve been through a lot, together and apart really. I think they’ll be alright.” Her smile seemed almost reassuring, though Pepper knew it came off as kind of condescending.  
“You are a very rare woman.” Obadiah stated, Pepper did her best not to tense thanks to how uncomfortable his comment made her.  
“Tony doesn’t know how lucky he is.” He continued, causing Pepper to laugh slightly before muttering a couple of ‘thank you’s and gathering her things, including the drive wrapped in the newspaper.

Pepper let out a breath as she walked away from Obadiah and didn’t hear him following, she froze when his voice sounded behind her,  
“Is that today’s paper?”   
“Yes.”  
“Do you mind?” He asked, stepping into her personal space, and causing Pepper to tense once again,   
“Not at all.” She muttered, trying her best not to panic at the closeness that left her disconcerted,  
“The puzzle,” Obadiah said as if his closeness to her was a perfectly normal thing.

Pepper slowly walked out of the room, not stopping to close the door, instead choosing to walk away as fast as she could without it looking suspicious.  
“Take care.” Came Obadiah’s voice of ‘concern’ Pepper didn’t respond, choosing to keep walking and ignore his presence.

She didn’t stop as she continued down the stairs. A voice grabbing her attention, but it didn’t belong to Obadiah,  
“Miss Potts, we had a meeting?” Agent Phil Coulson was sat in the lobby waiting for her, “did you forget about our meeting?”  
“Nope, right now. Come with me.” Coulson raised an eyebrow, turning to her in confusion but following her none-the-less as she kept walking.  
“Right now? We're going to have it right now.”  
“Yeah, walk with me.” Pepper ordered; Coulson followed without any question.  
“I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office.” Pepper stated. Unbeknownst to either of them, Obadiah had watched the whole exchange.

Erin carried Peter into his bedroom, the boy was already washed and was in his pajamas, he sniffled slightly as he dried his eyes, he’d been crying about Ben again. Erin had just told him that the people who killed Ben had been caught, Peter ended up crying for about 20 minutes before he calmed down enough to begin falling asleep. Laying Peter down, it didn’t take long for the boy’s eyes to close, in that time, Erin heard Tony answer the phone, but he remained in silence.

Tony had watched Erin head down the hall with Peter, he couldn’t deny his relief that Ben’s killers had been caught, he hoped that that would mean Peter would sleep better. Tony didn’t get much time to contemplate things when the phone started ringing causing him to head over to the couch,  
“Tony?” Came the voice at the other end, Pepper, just as a high-pitched whistling sounded and Tony found that he couldn’t move.   
“Easy, easy.” A familiar voice whispered. Obadiah was holding a small device in his hand that took Tony a moment to recognize, Obadiah took the phone from Tony, ending the call before throwing it on the couch.  
“You remember this one, right?” He asked as he rounded to couch at sat beside Tony, Tony couldn’t help wishing that Erin and Peter were safely at Erin’s country house, anywhere but here right now.  
“t's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.” Tony ignored Obadiah’s ramblings as he tried his best not to panic. Erin had warned him that, thanks to his now limited lung capacity, a panic attack could quickly turn bad.

Obadiah turned Tony’s head so that he didn’t have a choice but to look at his godfather,  
“Tony. When I ordered the hit on you,” Tony’s eyes widened, he knew in his head that Obadiah was involved since the gala, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it. He hadn’t wanted to admit that Erin was right about Obie.  
“I was worried that I was killing the golden goose.” Obadiah continued, pulling a small device out of his bag, he placed it over Tony’s arc reactor, “but, you see, it was just fate that you survived that.” He locked the device onto the arc reactor and twisted, unlocking the reactor from the socket.   
“You had one last golden egg to give. Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?” Tony felt as if he could feel the shrapnel in his chest, but he knew that it was psychosomatic because while the arc reactor wasn’t in the socket, the cable was still connected.  
“Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?” Obadiah disconnected the wire,

Obadiah looked away from Tony, looking instead at the arc reactor in his hand,  
“Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony.” He said as he sat down. Tony’s breathing was already quickening, both out of panic and the moving shrapnel.  
“What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. Erin has the mind for it, but her heart’s just too soft. She doesn’t have to right hands for this.” Tony’s panic spiked at the mention of Erin, the woman and Peter were two of the most important things in the world to Tony.  
“I wish you could've seen my prototype. It's not as... well, not as conservative as yours and Erin’s. Too bad you had to involve Pepper and the boy in this. I would have preferred that they lived.” Peter! Tony’s mind screamed, he needed to protect the kid that meant so much to him, he needed to protect Pepper. His family!

Erin ran her fingers through Peter’s hair, watching silently as the boy fell into a deep sleep, his teddy dressed in US Air Force uniform (a gift from Rhodey) clutched tightly in his hand. Erin rolled her eyes as her watch vibrated, IRIS letting her know that her phone was ringing,  
“Pepper?” She answered as she left Peter’s room.  
“Rhodey’s on his way! Erin, it’s Obadiah, he paid to have Tony killed!”   
“Oh my God!” Erin muttered when she heard the thud of someone hitting the ground.

Dropping her phone, Erin sprinted down the corridor, finding Tony struggling to make his way towards the workshop, Erin looped his arm over her shoulder as she pulled him into the elevator. She kept giving him encouragement and instructions until he fell,   
“JARVIS?! Can the arc reactor from my suit be put into Tony’s chest before he dies?”  
“I’m afraid not, Erin, the device’s cabling is not compatible.” Erin ran her fingers through Tony’s hair as he lay with his head on her leg, pain etched across his face.

Erin’s mind went blank as Tony began to still against her, until her and Tony heard the whirring of Dum-E. They both looked at the faithful robot, an arc reactor clasped tightly but gently in his claw. Erin glanced over to her desk to see the drawer face pulled off,  
“Good boy.” Tony murmured as he took the reactor into his hand. Erin took it from him, her hands much steadier as she attached the original reactor to the base plate. Erin let out a breath of relief when Tony closed his eyes as the magnet began working and drawing the shrapnel pieces still in his chest. He still didn’t move, his body was too exhausted to move at the moment and he was pretty sure that Erin wouldn’t let him move anyway.

Yelling echoed throughout the house, causing Peter to wake up,  
“Tony?! Erin?! Pete?!”  
“Uncle Rhodey?” Peter asked groggily as he stumbled over to Rhodey. Rhodey pulled the boy into a tight hug, relief washing over him when he held his adopted nephew. He lifted the boy in one arm as he continued a search for Tony and Erin. When his eyes fell on them in the workshop, panic filled him as he realized with horror that Tony wasn’t moving.  
“Tony? Erin?” The pair both snapped to look at their friend,  
“Where’s Pepper?” They asked in sync,  
“She’s fine,” Rhodey told them, setting Peter on his feet and helping Tony up, “she’s with five agents, they’re about to arrest Obadiah.”   
“That’s not going to be enough!” Erin yelled in a panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little short, but I was quite happy with it, so I hope you enjoyed it xx


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight to the death.

Pepper and the five agents headed towards Sector 16, attempting to find Obadiah. The agents didn’t speak as they watched Pepper,  
“My key's not working. It's not opening the door.” Coulson gently moved Pepper to the side as an agent placed a small explosive device on the lock.  
“Oh, wow! What's that? It's, like, a little device? It's, like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?” Coulson glanced over to her, an eyebrow raised at her naïve curiosity,  
“You might want to take a few steps back.” He stated, as soon as he had, Pepper ran slightly until she was the other side of the agents, covering her ears with her hands. The explosion was minute and contained, but it was enough to break the lock, allowing Pepper and the agents access to the room.

Rhodey and Peter watched as the machinery fastened the suits around Tony and Erin, they stood side by side as the metal fixed around them.  
“That’s the coolest thing I've ever seen.” Erin and Tony smiled at Rhodey’s comment, Peter grinned too, but he was mostly in awe.  
“Not bad, huh?” Tony said before turning to Erin, “Let's do it.”  
“You need me to do anything else?”  
“Keep the skies clear.” Tony order, closing his faceplate but waiting for Erin before taking off.  
“Keep an eye on Pete.” Erin said, glancing at the IRIS watch fastened on Peter’s wrist. Erin lowered her faceplate and the joint HUD comms and camera activated,  
“Let’s do this.” Erin said, the pair took off in sync, keeping next to each other as they headed for Stark Industries. Rhodey took Peter’s hand and led him to the car, keeping his grip tight around Peter’s hand so that he knew the boy was with him.

Tony and Erin had flown on a mission to Afghanistan, this time, they were beyond tense, both of them knew that this was either their deaths or the death of Obadiah. It didn’t help that Tony had an arc reactor in his chest that was never meant to do this job.  
“How’d you think the Mark 1 chest piece will hold up?” Tony asked JARVIS, he couldn’t ignore his own anxiety any longer,  
“The suit's at 48% power and falling, Sir. That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight.” Erin closed her eyes, not wanting to think about the fact that the reactor in her suit was designed to be strong enough to run the suit and something else if necessary.  
“Keep me posted.” Tony ordered as Stark Industries came into sight in the distance.

Tony called Pepper, hoping that she was out of the building,  
“Pepper?”   
“Tony! Tony are you okay?”  
“I'm fine. How are...”  
“Obadiah, he's gone insane!”  
“We know. Listen, you'd better get out of there.” Erin yelled over the joint HUD, connecting herself into the call to hear Pepper,  
“He built a suit.”  
“Get out of there right now!” Tony ordered.

At that moment, the pair heard Obadiah snarling at Pepper, their eyes landed on a giant suit towering over Pepper,  
“You go left, I go right.” Tony muttered through the comms. The pair hit against the suit, each punching the sides of the head, Obadiah was thrown back onto the freeway. The man grabbed a car, turning to throw it at Tony and Erin,  
“Put them down!” Tony yelled,  
Collateral damage, Tony.” Obadiah sneered, Erin turned to Tony on the camera, nodding slightly in an instruction to let her do the next bit so that he could save power,  
“IRIS, redirect power to the chest RT.” Erin shot the RT at Obadiah, throwing him backwards and forcing him to drop the car.

Tony caught the car easily, but the people inside of it were, understandably, freaking out, meaning that as soon as Tony placed the car on the ground, they tried driving, throwing Tony under the car. Erin flew after him, catching him before he could get too far away.

Obadiah wasn’t deterred; he grabbed a motorbike that came speeding past, throwing the rider before swinging the bike at Tony and Erin, throwing them both into parked cars and a bus. People ran screaming as Obadiah came towards them, he threw them both away from the bus, causing them to crash into the tarmac,  
“For thirty years, I've been holding you up! I built this company from nothing! Nothing is going to stand in my way. Least of all you!” Obadiah fired a missile at the bus, blowing it up and throwing Erin and Tony into the air.

Tony and Erin shared a look before both igniting their thrusters, both flying directly up at maximum speed,  
“Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!”  
“Sir, Doctor, it appears that his suit can fly.” Erin couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes at JARVIS’ observation,  
“Duly noted. Take me to maximum altitude.” Erin ordered IRIS to do the same.  
“With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that...” JARVIS tried to argue,  
“I know the math! Do it!” Erin let out a long breath as she climbed higher and higher for the first time.

Rhodey and Peter had just arrived at the military base, Rhodey was heading inside with Peter’s had still in his when his eyes landed on a trusted friend,  
“Sally! Sally can you take Peter for a few minutes, just while I check in?” Sally nodded and took Peter into the waiting area while Rhodey headed into control.  
“Sir,” One of the Private’s said, “you’re not going to believe this. That thing is back.”  
“Get me Major Allen. Scramble the jets!” Rhodey pressed the hang-up button on the handset, ending the call that hadn’t even begun,  
“Not necessary, people. Just a training exercise.” Everyone looked over to him with unease as he leveled a look to the Private,  
“Yes, sir.”

Erin and Tony were still climbing, but Tony’s chest piece was quickly losing power,  
“Thirteen percent power, Sir.”  
“Climb!”  
“Eleven percent.”  
“Keep going!”  
“Seven percent power.”  
“Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!” Tony snapped as the pair continued to climb, he couldn’t stand the frightened look on Erin’s face every time that JARVIS told him the percentage of power left.  
“You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!” Obadiah yelled as he grabbed them.  
“How'd you solve the icing problem?” Tony snarked, Erin couldn’t stop herself from smirking,  
“Icing problem?” Obadiah asked, clearly confused about what the two geniuses were talking about.  
“Might want to look into it.” Erin said just before they both hit Obadiah, causing him to fall.   
“Two percent.” JARVIS muttered as Tony began to fall, Erin grabbed ahold of him as JARVIS spoke again,  
“We are now running on emergency backup power.” Erin held onto Tony as the landed.

The pair landed easily, Erin began charging the RT on her hand, charging it for an energy transfer in order to give Tony a bit more power.   
“We’re at 25% power from the blast.” JARVIS told them. Tony smiled his thanks to Erin as she dropped her head against his shoulder, both still in their armor.  
“Potts, we’re coming to get you.” Tony said, both of them began heading towards the main entrance where Pepper was,  
“Nice try!” Came Obadiah’s yell as he landed behind them, he caught them both easily, crushing them against each other.   
“Weapons?” Erin asked,   
“Repulsors offline. Missiles offline.” IRIS and JARVIS told them both,  
“Flares!” They yelled in sync, it was just enough for Obadiah to drop them and for Tony to get to cover.

Erin took flight, her suit still functioning, and she didn’t risk her power giving out. She quickly set about manually launching the missiles at Obadiah while Tony spoke to Pepper about something. Erin grabbed two handful of wires from the back of the neck of Obadiah’s suit, pulling them until they tore away.   
“Hope those weren’t important!” She called as she dropped down, repeating the motion at Obadiah’s feet, ripping out his flight ability.   
“Come here you little bitch.” He growled, trying to catch Erin as she darted away.

Tony took up the motion, jumping onto Obadiah’s back and ripping out some more wires. The man was stood over the glass that was over the arc reactor.  
“Pepper, press the button!” Tony yelled as Erin grabbed him, lifting him off the roof. Obadiah was trying to shoot at them, but too many cables were broken, nothing was working properly when Pepper set the arc reactor into overload. Erin placed Tony back on the ground as she darted towards Obadiah and pulled Tony’s arc reactor from his chest plate, doing her best not to damage it as she did so.

Everything happened quickly after that. The glass Obadiah was stood on shattered under the dead weight of Obadiah’s suit. Erin flew and hovered just over the freeway as Obadiah fell through the glass, the arc reactor clutched in her hand, IRIS scanning it for damage. The arc reactor below them exploded as Obadiah landed on it. Tony grabbed Pepper from the door and flew her far enough away. Erin caught several of the pieces of rubble before flying to find the five agents trapped in the basement. She pulled them out one by one, placing them next to the freeway where people were stopping to watch as Tony came over to help her.

As soon as the pair finished rescuing the agents, they flew off. Tony called Pepper while Erin called Rhodey.  
“Is it done?” Rhodey asked,  
“Yeah, bring my baby home, would you?” Rhodey laughed as Erin hung up. She looked over to Tony in the camera before holding out the other arc reactor. Tony smiled thankfully over to her, he really didn’t want to have to build another one while one failed in his chest. Erin smiled back as they reached the mansion. Their home.

Peter and Rhodey were just arriving, as were Pepper and Happy. Richie and Jessica had been called and also reached the mansion, the entire family all arrived in sync as the two people in suits of armor flew in between them all, landing dramatically in front of them in a way that was distinctively Erin and Tony.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Announcements aren't always the best. Rhodey and Jessica would happily argue that announcements done by Tony and Erin are the worst thing ever. Though it's Coulson who got it worst, he'd spent a fair few hours sorting out their alibi, and Erin doesn't even look at the cards, Tony only looks in order to make sure that he disregards every aspect.

Rhodey stood in front of the press for the press conference that had been called for Tony, he began giving them a scripted opening before he would invite Tony to take the stage,  
“You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff...”

Jessica stood in front of the press for the press conference that had been called for Erin, she began, like Rhodey, giving them a scripted opening before she would invite Erin to take the stage,  
“You’ve all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. While Stark Industries and Walker Industries operate as very separate companies, there are projects that cross between the two. As such the unconfirmed reports of a robotic prototype malfunction have been linked back to Walker Industries CEO, Erin Walker. Fortunately, a member of Erin Walker’s personal security staff…”

“Iron Man and Iron Raven?” Tony read, “that’s quite catchy, nice ring to it. I mean it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway.” Pepper dabbed make-up over a bruise that had formed over Tony’s eye. Coulson handed the man several cards,  
“Here’s your alibi. You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from 50 of your guests.” Tony wasn’t so sure about that story. It was pretty common knowledge that Erin had been staying with him.  
“See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Erin and me alone on the island. No mention of Peter because Erin hasn’t agreed.”  
“That's what happened. Just read it, word for word.” Coulson told him, not bending even slightly on the alibi.  
“There's nothing about Stane here.” Tony pointed out.  
“That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record.”  
“But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard? He's my... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?”  
“This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds.” Coulson left him at that, letting him finish getting ready.

Erin sat in the side room with Peter next to her, Clint stood on her other side,  
“Have you seen the names that they’ve given us? ‘Iron Man and Iron Raven’ I think they’re quite good. Dunno where they’re getting a raven from though.”   
“Symbolism of life and death. They think it fits.” Clint told her,  
“It’s not accurate though, the suits are gold-titanium alloys. Completely different to iron.”  
“It’s imagery, Ma.” Peter muttered,   
“Yeah. Inaccurate imagery.” Peter just rolled his eyes which caused Clint to laugh as he handed Erin her cards.  
“Here’s your alibi. Coulson told me to give it to you. You were with Jessica, working in your lab all night, Richie and 13 others have signed statements that put you there all night.”  
“Why not me and Tony on the island all night?” Clint laughed slightly,  
“Yeah, I’m not arguing with Coulson. He was nearly buried alive.” Erin smiled slightly as she read through the cards,  
“There’s nothing about Stane.” She pointed out, Clint nodded,  
“That’s being handled. He’s on vacation. Small aircrafts are highly likely to have accidents.”   
“So that’s it? He gets away with this with his reputation intact and memorials and speeches?” Clint looked over to her,  
“That’s the story Erin. I can’t change it. Just trust Coulson on this, ok, he’s done this before.” Erin nodded and stood up,  
“You’ve got 90 seconds.” Erin hugged Clint before he left.

Tony headed over to Pepper, biting the cards between his teeth as she helped him put on his jacket, his mind was spinning as he thought everything over,  
“You know, it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man.” Pepper rolled her eyes,  
“You're not Iron Man.”  
“Am so.” Tony argued childishly,  
“You're not.” Pepper commented, trying to get Tony into the mind set to follow the alibi.  
“All right, suit yourself. You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be right there with me. Supporting me and then putting me back together if I got hurt. She’d have a heart that’s so much bigger than her mind, her love for people is never ending, no matter what they do to her. She’ll also be up there with me, we’d be improving together and keeping each other company as we tested the impossible.”  
“You could always just ask Erin out.” Pepper suggested with a smile.  
“What?” Tony spluttered,  
“She saved your life, risked her own life to grab the arc reactor from Stane, and is able to tear you down a peg or two when your ego needs taking down.” Tony’s eyes were still wide,  
“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”   
“Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts.” Tony said after he regained a bit of composure before heading onto the small stage.

Erin headed over to Peter, the seven-year-old held her suit jacket in his hands. He took the cards to allow Erin to put her jacket on easier,  
“You know, it’s not that bad. I could get used to Iron Raven.”  
“You’re not Iron Raven.” Peter commented as he passed Erin the cards,  
“Am too,”  
“Are not.”  
“Am so.” The pair continued childishly for a moment before sticking their tongues out to each other.  
“Y’know if I were Iron Raven, I’d have this partner who knew who I was. He’d be more than ready to step in and care for my baby when I was out saving people even though my baby isn’t his. He’d be able to keep up with me and help me toe the line of impossibility. But he’d be up in the sky with me at times too.”   
“I’d like Tony as my dad too.” Peter said easily as he reached up to untuck some of Erin’s hair from her suit jacket as Erin spluttered,  
“I’m sorry… what?”  
“You’ve gotta go on stage now Ma.” Peter said as he headed over to his seat next to a laughing Richie and Clint.

Rhodey saw Tony heading over and finished his address,  
“Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions.” Tony made his way onto the stage to a round of applause, he hugged Rhodey briefly before stepping up to the podium.  
“Thank you. Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop...” Christine Everhart spoke up from the front row,  
“I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that those were bodyguards in suits that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you...”  
“I know that it's confusing.” Tony said condescendingly, his eyes focused on Christine,   
“It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero.”  
“I never said you were a superhero.” Tony froze at that, back tracking slightly,  
“Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public.” Rhodey stepped towards him, whispering,  
“Just stick to the cards, man.”  
“Yeah, okay. Yeah. The truth is...” Tony glanced at the card before back at the expectant reporters.

Jessica saw Erin headed towards her and finished her address,  
“Miss Walker has prepared a statement. She will not be taking any questions at this time.” Erin made her way forwards to the round of applause from the reporters. She hugged Jessica briefly before taking her place at the podium.  
“It’s been a couple of months since I was last in front of you. Maybe I’ll stick to the cards and not worry my higher staff by not telling them what I’m planning.” She listened as a brief laughter washed over the reporters.  
“There has been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop last night…”  
“I’m sorry, Miss Walker, but do you honestly expect us to believe that those were bodyguards in suits of armor that conveniently had the highest grade weaponry and prosthesis tech…”  
“I know that it’s complicated and confusing for you.” Erin said gently, verging on patronizing,   
“It is one thing to question the official story, but another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I’m a superhero.”  
“I never said you were a superhero.” The reporter’s words caused Erin to freeze,  
“Good, because that would be outlandish and brilliant. I’m just not the hero type. Clearly. With a list of character defects and reckless tendencies.” Jessica came over to her,  
“Just read the little bits of paper.”  
“Yeah, sure. Ok. The truth is…” Erin didn’t even bother to glance at the cards, choosing to put them on the podium instead.

“I am Iron Man.”

“I am Iron Raven.”

The crowds at two different press conferences went wild. Two best friends glared silently at the geniuses determined to stick them in early graves. Two bodyguards rolled their eyes at their friends. Two S.H.I.E.L.D agents realized that they’d wasted their time on a cover story. One PA felt like headbutting a wall until she was unconscious. And one 7-year-old boy was laughing hysterically at his entire family freaking out or despairing over what his Ma and his Tony had said.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our two Iron Heroes are introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury, but maybe it isn't a new introduction for one of the pair. Ben's funeral sees the trio with a brokenhearted May as she confesses her worst fear to Tony and Erin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is a really short chapter
> 
> Your comments and the response to this story has been fantastic, thank you all for reading it xxx

Erin and Tony finally made it back to the mansion with Peter several hours after the press conferences to the point that it had gotten dark. They hadn’t been able to get home any sooner thanks to practically thousands of people trying to question them.

Eventually, they walked in the front door to complete silence and darkness,  
“JARVIS?” Tony called, concerned due to the fact that the AI hadn’t greeted them like normal,  
“Welcome home, Sir, Doc…” JARVIS sounded distorted and cut off before he could finish.   
“’I am Iron Man’, ‘I am Iron Raven’.” Tony and Erin both froze at the voice, Peter stopping short just because the adults had.  
“You two think you’re the only superheroes in the world?” The man speaking stepped into the light and Erin barely contained her grin when she recognized him.  
“Mr. Stark, Ms. Walker, you’ve just become part of a bigger world. You just don’t know it yet.” The man walked over to them.  
“Who the hell are you?” Tony asked tensely, deciding against moving.  
“Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Erin said with a grin,  
“How do you know that?” Tony asked,   
“He’s my godfather. My father worked as Nick’s partner before he became Director.” Tony nodded, not too certain.  
“I’m not here to discuss family, mind. I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative.”

Erin motioned for Peter to go and get ready for bed while Tony and Erin entertained Nick’s preposition.  
“The Avengers Initiative is an idea to bring together a group of remarkable individuals…”

The funeral for Ben Parker was simple and beautiful, befitting of the man it was honoring. Erin held Peter’s hand tightly as he sobbed silently through the whole thing. May ended up lifting her nephew into her arms in an attempt to calm them both, but that just made them cry more. Erin gently reassured them both that everything would be alright in time. May gripped Erin’s hand tightly while Tony kept a comforting hand on her back, silently reassuring her that she wasn’t alone.

The wake was a simple affair with only family and a few close friends present, Tony and Erin stayed until late into the evening, long after everyone else had left and Peter had gone to bed. May looked over the pair with watery eyes, she took a shuddering breath as she sat down,  
“May, if there’s anything you ever need, anything at all, let me know and I’ll help out.” May nodded but began crying again,  
“Please… don’t take him away.” She sobbed, Erin felt tears slip down her cheeks as she pulled May into her arms,   
“I would never. May, I am never going to stop you and Pete being able to see each other. You’re his aunt, he adores you, and you’ve always been there when he’s needed you. I will never take him away from you, May.” May nodded against Erin’s shoulder as she continued to sob, relieved that her nephew would still be in her life.

The following morning, Erin and Tony headed to grab some breakfast from the café down the street, still shaken from May’s fear last night,  
“We’ll keep them safe.” Tony reassured Erin, “they’re our family.” Erin nodded silently, but tightened her hold on Tony’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second part of this series is already underway and I will begin uploading it soon xx


End file.
